Faulty Fanatec Warranty

  • Thread starter novadave
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novadave

novadave

227
Canada
Montreal
SUPERNOVADAVE
SUPERNOVADAVE
Hello and Merry Christmas to Everyone.

I thought i would let the public know about my recent problems with Fanatec.

on July-16-2009 i ordered a Turbo-s wheel from fanatec.
of course they charged me at the moment i placed the order.
after almost five months of excuses and waiting - according to them they were ready to ship out my wheel on November-30 -2009
well recently ( dec-19 ) i contacted there service dept. about a problem with the force feedback motor.
i just received a responce this morning stating that it is unfortunate but my warranty has expired as of November -30 -2011.
even though i received the wheel on December-29 -2009
and they also tell me the wheel is not repairable.
all it needs is the motor - so basically they are saying that they do not carry replacement parts.
this wheel was advertized as a limited collectors edition - am i supposed to throw it away because of a defective force feedback motor.
i could easily repair it in about one hour if i had a replacement motor.
for the moment i can still use it if i turn off the force feedback.
so basically i have lost a months warranty because they calculate that the warranty starts when it leaves the warehouse.
like any other product or company a warranty starts when the customer has received the product
i have to say that i am really pissed at them.
buyers beware - check your warranty
here is the responce i received yesterday morning.

( Hi Dave,

thank you for your email and video.

Usually your wheel has to be replaced because it´s irreparable, but unfortunately it´s out of warranty.

As you see in the invoice, delivery-date was 30.11.2009

I´m sorry for that

Best Regards / Mit freundlichen Grüßen

Johannes Kirsch
(Fanatec Support Team) )
 
Welcome to the mad house mate.

I sympathise with you and think that it sucks.

You have only two posts however and some sections of this forum will not sympathise as apparently a low post count can't always be believed when criticising a company.

No seriously, that's how it works around here.

Merry Christmas to you and your family.
 
Some companies are easy with the warranty. I remember that a friend of mine had one of those Plextor CD-burners back in the day, it was a month past the date of purchase but still they would let him send the unit RMA as its called and after he got a brand new and improved one even.

Guess Fanatec is more strict. Although everywhere around me companies are cutting on warrenty. Big electronics shop here too... used to take back opened packages and put them back on display for sale. Now the economy is bad they suddenly don't anymore. I'm sure there will be a lot of unhappy people with Christmas presents this year.
Also I heard that Western Digital cut the harddrive warranty from 5 to 3 years and Seagate even cut it from 5 to 1 year.

So I feel with you OP. It really sucks donkeywood. I blame the economy currently for companies being like that, but don't know if Fanatec was like that in the past as well.

Merry Christmas still though. Hope you will enjoy yourselfs even with this turn of events.
 
I'd email them back stating that you didn't get it until the 29th of December. If they are not going to warranty the wheel, at least work with you to get the problem fixed. That's horrible. I wonder if you can just get a Mabuchi motor replacement...
 
Nova frequents the f-wheel(sonac's site) This is credible, just unfortunate. Again brings up the ? Is Fanatec built for the long term? We still have a couple years before we can make that conclusion.......

My 5 year old RED momo still works like the day it came out of the box minus a slightly faded ffb. That is what I base my "long-term" off of.
 
AGP5000
Nova frequents the f-wheel(sonac's site) This is credible, just unfortunate.
Click to expand...

he also posts on ISR ;) so defo not a 1 post troll

anyway i find it normal and not suspicious. some people don't bother with forums until they have a problem/issue and then decide to post.

anyway that sucks to hear. but since you are out of warranty you are out of luck unfortunately. i am not a fan of Fanatec customer service, but can't say they are legally in the wrong if the wheel is past warranty period - although one would be right to expect a wheel to last a little longer, esp when associated with the Porsche brand.

best bet would be to see if someone has a busted wheel with a working motor and is willing to part with it.
 
Last edited:
BCNR 33
You know, you seem to be the only person that mentions someone's post count as some kind of measurement of post quality.
Click to expand...

Rubbish.

I actually agree with the fella.
I've agreed with first posters because I like to take people's word in it.

It was others who pointed out to me that post count matters.
 
novadave
Hello and Merry Christmas to Everyone.

I thought i would let the public know about my recent problems with Fanatec.

on July-16-2009 i ordered a Turbo-s wheel from fanatec.
of course they charged me at the moment i placed the order.
after almost five months of excuses and waiting - according to them they were ready to ship out my wheel on November-30 -2009
well recently ( dec-19 ) i contacted there service dept. about a problem with the force feedback motor.
i just received a responce this morning stating that it is unfortunate but my warranty has expired as of November -30 -2011.
even though i received the wheel on December-29 -2009
and they also tell me the wheel is not repairable.
all it needs is the motor - so basically they are saying that they do not carry replacement parts.
this wheel was advertized as a limited collectors edition - am i supposed to throw it away because of a defective force feedback motor.
i could easily repair it in about one hour if i had a replacement motor.
for the moment i can still use it if i turn off the force feedback.
so basically i have lost a months warranty because they calculate that the warranty starts when it leaves the warehouse.
like any other product or company a warranty starts when the customer has received the product
i have to say that i am really pissed at them.
buyers beware - check your warranty
here is the responce i received yesterday morning.

( Hi Dave,

thank you for your email and video.

Usually your wheel has to be replaced because it´s irreparable, but unfortunately it´s out of warranty.

As you see in the invoice, delivery-date was 30.11.2009

I´m sorry for that

Best Regards / Mit freundlichen Grüßen

Johannes Kirsch
(Fanatec Support Team) )
Click to expand...

Firstly I sympathise with you. Sucks that your wheel broke. My PWTS which I just sold after taking delivery of a CSR Elite is still in perfect working order after just over two years. I can see the argument from both sides, you have had less than two years use out of it but it left Fanatec over two years ago. Seems the delivery service took an awful long time to get the wheel to you. I'd also say that if this was most products the thought of a warranty would have been out of the window a year ago as most companies only offer a one year warranty. It's just the way things happen sometimes. The last two company vans we replaced had major failures of the engine and gearbox respectively just a couple of months outside of their warranty periods and they had to be scrapped. Sell enough of something and a failure just out of warranty is going to happen to someone. Unluckily it was you.

And if you think you can fix it easily then it shouldn't be too hard to get hold of a motor. I don't think they were specially made for Fanatec.

Spagetti69
Welcome to the mad house mate.

I sympathise with you and think that it sucks.

You have only two posts however and some sections of this forum will not sympathise as apparently a low post count can't always be believed when criticising a company.

No seriously, that's how it works around here.

Merry Christmas to you and your family.
Click to expand...

You need to change the record mate.
 
Hi Fellow Racers.
for me it is simply a matter of principal - i feel cheated - i did not realize fanatecs warranty clock started ticking from the moment they were ready to ship the order.
it never even dawned on me.
since it had taken so long to ship out and to get here in canada i would have demanded that i get an adjustment on the warranty.
i remember in the past asking thomas why it was taking so long for the order to be processed and was told that it had been shipped out and once it was shipped it was out of there hands and that they were having problems with customs documentation being improperly filled out there fore there would be delays.
therefore we are the ones to be penalized for there errors
once again be good and merry christmas.
 
SuperNova, I'd definitely fight that. It certainly shouldn't take 30 days for a product to get delivered, so it seems unreasonable that the warranty would start before receipt of the wheel. I've had good luck appealing to other companies when I've had a product fail within a short window outside the warranty period. I think you should appeal to Thomas directly.
 
novadave
Hi Fellow Racers.
for me it is simply a matter of principal - i feel cheated - i did not realize fanatecs warranty clock started ticking from the moment they were ready to ship the order.
it never even dawned on me.
since it had taken so long to ship out and to get here in canada i would have demanded that i get an adjustment on the warranty.
i remember in the past asking thomas why it was taking so long for the order to be processed and was told that it had been shipped out and once it was shipped it was out of there hands and that they were having problems with customs documentation being improperly filled out there fore there would be delays.
therefore we are the ones to be penalized for there errors
once again be good and merry christmas.
Click to expand...

The bold part might help you as it was there fault for you losing that crucial warranty period. Thomas is on GTPlanet so he might see this and sort you out.
 
saidur_ali
The bold part might help you as it was there fault for you losing that crucial warranty period. Thomas is on GTPlanet so he might see this and sort you out.
Click to expand...

That was going to be my suggestion, PM Thomas and see if he can help you. You warranty really shouldn't start until receipt of the wheel, especially if it took that long to receive.
 
I had the "luck" that my PWTS broke down at 1 year and 11 months and they send me brand new CSR for replacement.
 
HoiHman
I had the "luck" that my PWTS broke down at 1 year and 11 months and they send me brand new CSR for replacement.
Click to expand...

that is amazing. reminds me when my BFG 8800gtx packed it in after several years and they sent me a new gtx 285 after a phone call. I was sad when BFG decided to stop making GFX cards :(
 
novadave
Hello and Merry Christmas to Everyone.

I thought i would let the public know about my recent problems with Fanatec.

on July-16-2009 i ordered a Turbo-s wheel from fanatec.
of course they charged me at the moment i placed the order.
after almost five months of excuses and waiting
Click to expand...

Hi Dave,

I had the same problem, a 5 month (or so) wait for my GT2. Fanatec finally apologized after countless inquires in regards to my order.

Thomas has assured us that Fanatecs CS has changed. Don't give up just yet, PM "Fanatec" here on the forum. If nothing else perhaps they would give you a new wheel at a reduction in price.
 
Hi Guys.
just like to say that i finally convinced Fanatec to sell me a motor and received it today.
it cost me 33.00 dollars and has taken over one and a half months to get it.
glad it is over with and now i can repair my wheel.
if anyone else has problems with Fanatec - keep at it and do not give up.
 
mikochu
Glad to hear some good news, Dave. Is it an easy fix or is there soldering involved?
Click to expand...


Hi .
it is not too difficult - if someone has basic mechanical skills it could be done in about 1 to 1-1/2 hours.
the motor that they sold me had the heatsink and gear assembly installed .
but in my case one of the motor wires that is soldered was not done properly at the factory so before continuing i will resolder it properly - a 5 minute job.
all in all i am happy to get the motor - in my case my wheel is in a imaculate condition except for the faulty motor - so by replacing the motor it`s life has been restored.
i really did not want to throw this wheel away just because of a motor
 
after replacing the motor i decided to do a few mods such as adding ACL (autoclutch ).
i did the mod on the day before fanatec said that they would not add this function to the Turbo-s and GT2 wheels.
so if you guys want this function - you can do it yourselves.
 
novadave
after replacing the motor i decided to do a few mods such as adding ACL (autoclutch ).
i did the mod on the day before fanatec said that they would not add this function to the Turbo-s and GT2 wheels.
so if you guys want this function - you can do it yourselves.
Click to expand...

Cool. How about a tutorial?
 
Hey Dave, I know you said they were reluctant, however the motor in my PWT died on me last november. Any possibility I can get theat motor model number from you to attempt to revive my wheel? As much as I'd love to get a new wheel, its not in my financial realm right now and I have numerous racing games collecting dust now.
 
I bet if you took the motor out of the wheel and took it to a shop that sells and repairs electric motors they could help you out. Probably would just rebuild your old one because its probably just worn out brushes.
 
I'm not surprised they didn't help, its a full year out of warranty.

Jerome
 
LostRacer
Hey Dave, I know you said they were reluctant, however the motor in my PWT died on me last november. Any possibility I can get theat motor model number from you to attempt to revive my wheel? As much as I'd love to get a new wheel, its not in my financial realm right now and I have numerous racing games collecting dust now.
Click to expand...

if it helps you here is the model .
Mabuchi # RS-555PH-22130.
note - i have contacted Mabuchi and they told me that this motor has been out of production for many years - originally this motor was used in inkjet printers.
it has a shaft on both ends of the motor therefor i was not able to locate a suitable replacement.
try to contact Fanatec and get them to sell you a replacement
 
fatkrakr
I bet if you took the motor out of the wheel and took it to a shop that sells and repairs electric motors they could help you out. Probably would just rebuild your old one because its probably just worn out brushes.
Click to expand...


i opened up the motor to diagnose the problem and it is the armature winding insulation that is burned.
these motors were not built to be repairable
 

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