Product Failure...Customer Service/Tech Support please help!
First time customer, first time sim racing rig. I bought the GT DD Pro (8nm) and within an hour of use, the DD started to emit a smell of burning rubber/plastic, was extremely hot to the touch and suddenly shut down on its own. Since the shut down, the system does not turn on and is inoperable.
The equipment has clearly failed and does not work and needs to be replaced.
I reached out to fanatec to notify of the issue and have received a generic response with no path to addressing the product failure. Its been a week since I responded to fanatec's generic response and have not received any further correspondence from fanatec.
I truly want to back this product, but the lack of customer service/technical support is extremely concerning.
Any suggestions from the community on how to deal with this issue?
Comments
seems happen allot with they new csl dd.
that issue comes mostly from they voltage safety system what recuses the high voltage from steering wheel when user turns that left and right.
when something happens at there, it's start send out the full voltage protection thro white power resistor and n-mosfet transistor,
that area can go over 250 celsius and start heat rapidly the board and the case.
i to saw that some components are missing at there like n-mosfet negative voltage protection resistor
allot know that n-mosfet may not easy turn off, without that it may keep running even if switch voltage drops to 0
this is example what posted 7 years ago what may happen if some simple component is missing.
loot video at 8.55
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UIuKOgyZs4
i not know if that is exactly a issue but its really a warning sight
Not sure what you've tried in regards to contacting support, but the usual way would be to log in and go to the "My Products" page. There, you can enter the serial number of your product and upon doing so, click the Support button to lodge a ticket. This is the "official" way of requesting support. Response time can vary, unfortunately. In the past, it's ranged from a couple of days to 2 weeks or more when they've been really busy and overwhelmed.
I think there's a live chat feature available as well, (I believe its availability is noted by the presence of a red box with a headset or robot or something somewhere on the My Products page) but this can be very hit-or-miss in terms of actually finding the times when it's available.
Other than that, I have three emails that I've used in past correspondence, I don't know how effective it would be to contact them directly as opposed to going through the My Products route, but as a last resort you could try these:
e-support@fanatec.com
webshop@fanatec.com
repair@fanatec.com
Good luck, hopefully you'll hear back and get things sorted sooner rather than later.
Thanks Gregg
I've tried every avenue and submitted a couple different support tickets, but still no response.
I've tried the live chat feature, but its a bot and doesn't get you to a real person
I've tried calling Germany during the 2 hours that they take customer calls, but when I called I got a recorded message that customer service is busy and not taking customer calls.
Starting to think this is a scam.
They are just a small company selling a product that has become popular. Production is discontinuous, so they often have nothing to sell. And the recurring question is: When will CSL DD be available? When will GT DD Pro be available?
Then when the warehouse is restocked and they start selling something, customer service falls apart and the question becomes: Where did my package go? Where is my money? Why don't they answer?
Then the stocks run out and again: do I want to buy CSL DD when it will be available?
And a couple of months later: Why isn't anyone answering me? ...
Exactly right, Alessandro. This has been the cycle that I've witnessed from them ever since I bought my CSL DD (I was among the second wave of pre-orders back when they first hit the market a couple of years ago).
I really like my Fanatec equipment, but between having to troubleshoot and go through multiple RMAs for various issues, it hasn't exactly been easy getting to this point. Fortunately when my issues arose, I was able to get the support I needed from Fanatec relatively quickly. But I know that is not always the case. In fact, it seems to be the exception, rather than the rule.
When it comes time to upgrade my equipment, I'm going to have to think long and hard about whether I really want to stay within the Fanatec ecosystem. There's a LOT of competition out there and if Fanatec don't get themselves sorted out as a properly functioning business, the answer for me is probably going to be "no".
Bump...still no response from Fanatec. What a joke of a company.
How long ago did you receive it? Is there no way you can go through your bank to get the money back and just return the faulty unit?
Will post an update as soon as I have resolution.