So this was a rough ride and left me with mixed feelings. On one hand a several people made a good deal and won the auction below the RRP. Everybody had a fair chance to bid on the first auctions.
But later on we got sever problems again. It looks like this was not a server issue but something in the code of the auction system.
We made this first auction to learn and to improve and will put more products on auction in all regions after we improved the system.
Thanks for posting Thomas. Being new to sim racing this was my first experience dealing with Fanatec so I though I would provide some feedback based on a 'fresh perspective'.
It appears you care about what happened and your customer base and it is great that you have posted here but could I suggest that your communication be made (much) more visible than buried on page 2 of a comments section. I have spent a considerable amount of time looking through Facebook comments and websites trying to find out what is happening after last night. There appears to be a lot of interest around the DD products so more visible and regular communication would also have been great in the weeks leading up to the auction.
Regarding the auctions I do have to disagree about it being fair sorry, as many people where unable to bid and the auctions finished before the timers ran out. Also seeing several DD1s sell for <$700 while being unable to bid because of the auction issues leaves a very negative feeling towards your company and this DD1 release.
I now have mixed feelings towards what looks like an amazing product and what should have been an exciting release. I was completely sold on your DD1 but after last night I was unsure and I have been investigating other options as I am not tied to the Fanatec ecosystem. Now that I have read your post above I'm a little more positive about the situation and that the frustration created by the auction last night can be undone.
It would be appreciated if you/your company continues to provide regular updates (that are easy to see on you website) as it keeps your customers engaged and this is a big positive from my perspective. Good luck with the next round of auctions.
Too bad to hear about the troubles on the Australian auctions, I hope it gets worked out. However, it could be worse... you could be in Canada like I am... watching from the sidelines without any chance at an auction to bid on at any point in this process. ;-)
will there be another auction in australia or was that it?i really hope not because the first was poor, tried so many times to bid with no chance to log an increased bid.try again please
They've tried stuff like this before, it's always failed.
Amazing hardware. Superb support. Fantastic community engagement. But site stuff...? Yeah... nah. Fanatec as always aiming higher than it can deliver. Please, don't promise what you can't see through.
I'm ok with that. All I want is amazing gear. But guys. Your marketing needs actual marketing dept professionals, full time staff that can handle this stuff and are trained for it. Thomas - you can't do everything. Delegate. Please. You're amazing at leading the company and directing the engineering. Give that **** hell and leave the rest to others. Then Fanatec will explode as a major company.
So this was a rough ride and left me with mixed feelings. On one hand a several people made a good deal and won the auction below the RRP. Everybody had a fair chance to bid on the first auctions.
But later on we got sever problems again. It looks like this was not a server issue but something in the code of the auction system.
We made this first auction to learn and to improve and will put more products on auction in all regions after we improved the system.
Maybe a better option would be to just randomly choose the first who preorder to get the discounted price?
So I’ve notice that 6 of the 10 Austrian auctions show here would be above retail price once GST (tax) is added, the other 4 didn’t complete there 90 second count down and just rolled into a new auction. Normally in Australia GST is always included in prices and not added later. All the prices on the Australian Fanatec web site include GST. I managed to win an auction in the mid-teens and immediately received an email saying I had won but I have not heard anything more from Fanatec. I have discovered a link on the web paged called “not payed won bids” inside I find my bid and an option to pay however when clicked it adds GST taking the price to almost RRP. Based on that other winners would be up to $50 above RRP. I have tried to contact Fanatec directly about this but I have had no reply. I would like to know if they are aware of this and how it will be handled.
Yep, I'm in the same situation. I've PMed Dom, and it seems they are aware of this bug, and I've also emailed webshop@fanatec.com to check how to proceed. Still haven't heard back from them yet, but I suppose they're still all recovering from their birthday bash they had with all the community influencers this weekend.
So I’ve notice that 6 of the 10 Austrian auctions show here would be above retail price once GST (tax) is added, the other 4 didn’t complete there 90 second count down and just rolled into a new auction. Normally in Australia GST is always included in prices and not added later. All the prices on the Australian Fanatec web site include GST. I managed to win an auction in the mid-teens and immediately received an email saying I had won but I have not heard anything more from Fanatec. I have discovered a link on the web paged called “not payed won bids” inside I find my bid and an option to pay however when clicked it adds GST taking the price to almost RRP. Based on that other winners would be up to $50 above RRP. I have tried to contact Fanatec directly about this but I have had no reply. I would like to know if they are aware of this and how it will be handled.
As Carlos says, we are aware and you should hear back from webshop@fanatec.com soon. And congrats on your win!
yeah, would be cool to release some official info. I dont know why is so modern to make such a secret out of everything.
I would also like to know if there will be some podium rims available during DD pre-order period or not. Or when they are planned to be available. I am not willing to order anything if I dont know when I will be able to buy a proper rim for it.
I'd guess all their energy is in getting ready for sim racing expo, but it would be nice if they could even just give us an eta of their next progress report.
Something like, "still working on it, next autction won't be till after sim racing expo" would be great.
I can't understand this (and previous) auction system. A simple drawn of 100 discount codes of 200€ and problem solved.
But the auction system requires lot of resources from the site, because needs all the people online ath the same time, and that generates a lot of frustration for not winning or even worse, without the chance of bid. It also no makes difference between Fanatec customers/simracers and speculators. Probably many DDW will be in ebay at the next day of the deliver.
The worst for Fanatec is that potential customers are waiting for the auction and nobody is preordering DD1 or DD2 to see what happens.
It's a very questionable marketing campaign, because is annoying your customers, and the company is loosing revenues.
Agreed with previous comment. I'm not going to preorder anything from a company that communicates and executes this badly. And I am an existing customer, happy with my V3 pedals.
About auctions: ever heard of eBay? Works quite well, it seems - a proven platform. It's about focus guys.. do what you are good at, which is building awesome SIM racing hardware. Don't get lost in hobby projects where you totally lack the expertise to deliver, and (future) customer relations are at play.
Thanks for your feedback guys. For those concerned that the auction system is a distraction, rest assured that it has zero effect on our R&D department, who are working hard as always on new products. If the auction works as intended, it would not require many resources, as it is automated. We are still planning to run more, but I have no date estimates to provide at the moment.
I hope that you can fix the auction before the official release date of the DD1. Interested in buying one with some discount.
Question: Is the McLaren GT3 wheel recommended for the DD1? Or is the torque from the DD1 too big for that wheel?
We certainly want to have the auctions before the DD1 is readily available.
The McLaren GT3 wheel will be compatible with both the DD1 and DD2, just like the rest of our steering wheel range. The Podium Series bases will detect CSL Series products automatically, and run at reduced torque levels. This still very high performance, similar to the torque of the CSW V2.5, but with extra detail and responsiveness that is inherent to direct drive technology. Please note that when the McLaren wheel is combined with the ClubSport Quick Release Adapter, the Podium bases can run at full torque.
I hope that you can fix the auction before the official release date of the DD1. Interested in buying one with some discount.
Question: Is the McLaren GT3 wheel recommended for the DD1? Or is the torque from the DD1 too big for that wheel?
We certainly want to have the auctions before the DD1 is readily available.
The McLaren GT3 wheel will be compatible with both the DD1 and DD2, just like the rest of our steering wheel range. The Podium Series bases will detect CSL Series products automatically, and run at reduced torque levels. This still very high performance, similar to the torque of the CSW V2.5, but with extra detail and responsiveness that is inherent to direct drive technology. Please note that when the McLaren wheel is combined with the ClubSport Quick Release Adapter, the Podium bases can run at full torque.
Hi Dominic Brennan, How much torque reduction will be on the DD1 Base by using the first series of the Fanatec universal hub?, (Example, 70%/80%....).
And in the future is there a way to Bypass it this feature?.
I hope that you can fix the auction before the official release date of the DD1. Interested in buying one with some discount.
Question: Is the McLaren GT3 wheel recommended for the DD1? Or is the torque from the DD1 too big for that wheel?
We certainly want to have the auctions before the DD1 is readily available.
The McLaren GT3 wheel will be compatible with both the DD1 and DD2, just like the rest of our steering wheel range. The Podium Series bases will detect CSL Series products automatically, and run at reduced torque levels. This still very high performance, similar to the torque of the CSW V2.5, but with extra detail and responsiveness that is inherent to direct drive technology. Please note that when the McLaren wheel is combined with the ClubSport Quick Release Adapter, the Podium bases can run at full torque.
Hi Dominic Brennan, How much torque reduction will be on the DD1 Base by using the first series of the Fanatec universal hub?, (Example, 70%/80%....).
And in the future is there a way to Bypass it this feature?.
Thank you in advance.....
It is not planned to have a torque reduction on the first-gen Universal Hub (this applies to the CSL 'simplified QR'), but this is dependent on final testing.
I hope that you can fix the auction before the official release date of the DD1. Interested in buying one with some discount.
Question: Is the McLaren GT3 wheel recommended for the DD1? Or is the torque from the DD1 too big for that wheel?
We certainly want to have the auctions before the DD1 is readily available.
The McLaren GT3 wheel will be compatible with both the DD1 and DD2, just like the rest of our steering wheel range. The Podium Series bases will detect CSL Series products automatically, and run at reduced torque levels. This still very high performance, similar to the torque of the CSW V2.5, but with extra detail and responsiveness that is inherent to direct drive technology. Please note that when the McLaren wheel is combined with the ClubSport Quick Release Adapter, the Podium bases can run at full torque.
Hi Dominic Brennan, How much torque reduction will be on the DD1 Base by using the first series of the Fanatec universal hub?, (Example, 70%/80%....).
And in the future is there a way to Bypass it this feature?.
Thank you in advance.....
It is not planned to have a torque reduction on the first-gen Universal Hub (this applies to the CSL 'simplified QR'), but this is dependent on final testing.
Im afraid that this topic is getting old and expectation is going down...
I was really really hyped when all of this (i mean the auctions) was announced. The DD1 sounds like heavens music for me and i sat to wait for a release date. The problem is... that the auction only took place in Australia... and then it resoult in a complete mess (or even a dissaster) and after that the news simply stopped. Just one or two comments lost here in the blog and the usual disaster in communications that came across when something doesn´t goes as expected. Two months later im still waiting for some good news. I come daily to read the blog (no new post for a long time...) and no news or announcements even on Facebook.
I actually think that you´re a great company. That really have some great products. And to be honest my only doubt right now is if i´ll buy the DD1 or de 2.5 base. But that said... your campains don´t use to go well and theres no doubt you have a big communication problem. At this pace some people will have their DD1 at home while others won´t know what to do. Shall they wait for the so announced auctions and hope to have some luck? or should they just buy the DD1 at a regular price? (and maybe the auctions opens two days later with no customers waiting for them...)
The expectation was real and huge but two months kill any campain. Im starting to think that the best solution is offer some kind of discounts to the users that are really interested in this base and oficially "kill" this auctions thing.
Im afraid that this topic is getting old and expectation is going down...
I was really really hyped when all of this (i mean the auctions) was announced. The DD1 sounds like heavens music for me and i sat to wait for a release date. The problem is... that the auction only took place in Australia... and then it resoult in a complete mess (or even a dissaster) and after that the news simply stopped. Just one or two comments lost here in the blog and the usual disaster in communications that came across when something doesn´t goes as expected. Two months later im still waiting for some good news. I come daily to read the blog (no new post for a long time...) and no news or announcements even on Facebook.
I actually think that you´re a great company. That really have some great products. And to be honest my only doubt right now is if i´ll buy the DD1 or de 2.5 base. But that said... your campains don´t use to go well and theres no doubt you have a big communication problem. At this pace some people will have their DD1 at home while others won´t know what to do. Shall they wait for the so announced auctions and hope to have some luck? or should they just buy the DD1 at a regular price? (and maybe the auctions opens two days later with no customers waiting for them...)
The expectation was real and huge but two months kill any campain. Im starting to think that the best solution is offer some kind of discounts to the users that are really interested in this base and oficially "kill" this auctions thing.
I'm looking forward to when the North American auction takes place. I'm sure it'll be a smooth experience since Fanatec are spending a lot of time on their auction system. Also, we all need to chill a bit. I've noticed many negative comments and I feel there's no point in getting worked up since wheelbases aren't releasing until December anyway.
I'm looking forward to when the North American auction takes place. I'm sure it'll be a smooth experience since Fanatec are spending a lot of time on their auction system. Also, we all need to chill a bit. I've noticed many negative comments and I feel there's no point in getting worked up since wheelbases aren't releasing until December anyway.
Look for some confortable place to "look forward to the auction" . It may take long
Im not complaining about release date, etc. Im simply saying that you can´t promise something (an auction in the current topic), and then dissapear for a couple of months. This will become more and more important as the relesea date actually get close. And it could even have a negative impact on DD1 sales. Of course i want things to go smooth and great for fanatec (speaking of everything a new website would be cool) but communication is definitely one of their weak points.
Comments
When will the auctions begin in Europe / Germany?