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You asked some great questions.Maybe interview some other people in the industry. His answers sounded ok but the entire situation does not really add up.My guess is Fanatec wanted the cashflow that came with the Black Friday deal,they got the cash but they also got a ton of problems that they were not prepared for.
Good on you Kireth for doing this. The production value on the video is amazing as well. You could be working at the BBC. Would be great getting a Q&A Session with other industry leaders.
In order to increase the company's profits, the price of fanatec's QR2 is too high. Consumers need to spend more than $100 to update their own quick release. I bought a QR2 Pro on AliExpress, and its price is only half of fanatec's. The quality is exactly the same.
He tried to blow off the complaints about warranties on partial shipments expiring by starting off with "well we were the first ones who had an ecosystem" lol. Glad to hear they are now "exploring" the revolutionary idea of shipping multiple items from the same warehouse in the same box.
To be fair: most parcels services have wage limits on the parcels, and only smaller (lighter) things can be shipped combined. My CSL DD and stuff (one wheel, pedals, wheel base, quick release) was shipped in 3 parcels 2 years ago, and I waited 9 weeks.
@@alphastratus6623 Grate 9 weeks! that's awesome. Really really good. I placed an order for a custom rig with motedis (huge company with warehouses all over Europe) Some parts needed to be manufactured. Not everything was in stock at the same warehouse, in the same country, so they needed to collect them first. Every part had to be cut, drilled and threaded to my specifications and I received it all at once, not even four weeks later.
Absolutely agree. I was a warehouse manager for an international company - it's not a problem in this day and age to send it in one box, or make sure everything arrives the same day. Absolute joke this Thomas guy
@@deeb0218 they could hire outside of germany and have multiple customer service locations like in south america and south east asian to always have 24/7 service without paying an arm and a leg
I understand your frustration, but what would you do? Employ 20 more people, take 2 months to train them all fully with the kit, train them another month how to handle phone calls and emails, then employ them on the shop floor for 2 weeks because by now you've sorted the back log, then sack them all because they're not needed any more? That's a whole load of headaches and energy that could be directed more meaningfully in different directions.
@@MuntyScruntFundle no its about honesty. Fanatec told me in multiple emails about delays and issues with shipping and how they were air freiting the dd+ to me to get it to me in december. In january we find out they didnt have the license. Why rush it if they couldnt do anything with it? Why not tell me in decemver they didnt have a license?
He does not strike me as someone that is actually that sorry for what happened but rather sorry for the time he has to spend dealing with the fallout. All they had to do was to release statements on this right after Black Friday when they realized what had happened.
"I'm sorry for both side" is very much what one would say when they are only sorry for themselves. People who are really sorry for others don't talk about themselves at all.
Yeah, got that feeling too when he glanced at his watch at the 20 min marker. Yeah.. I feel his pain. Still watching the clock waiting for my Black Friday order.
Seems like he's pumped to rip us off, now I have a shifter sitt8ng and collecting dust because they forced me to keep just part of the order because I didn't request my refund within 14 days, the problem they didn't email me back for 7 weeks about my order so I had no idea I needed to send it back. They made millions on others misfortune.
At least he did man up, have the interview and explain what had happened. Good to get dates for shipping (by March) Its a bad situation for customers and he should have the decency to apologise to the customers rather than taking this from business only point of view - also people shouldn't find out this way it should be clearly communicated to customers. Half the issue is taking orders without stock, the other half the issue is pisspor communication and management of this crisis. I never had any issues with my orders (Wheel set in June and quick change adapter on Black Friday)
He seemed very hesitant on saying they’re losing profit. Almost as if it’s almost equal. And considering most of these products are being discounted and rerunning the assembly line is far more expensive than continuing with the next gen, I wonder how much profit these competitive companies are still making when their products are full price and in mass production.
As a loyal fanatec customer for over 3 yrs, with more equipment I care to list ( 3 rigs) it’s clear to us now that the issues start from the top. Thomas is a nice guy, but clearly in over his head how to proceed, even decades later. Now I understand why they marketing/customer service manager is so incompetent, they don’t have sound leadership above them. Too much shady talk by Thomas. Especially as I still have a fam member waiting on a blk Friday order. The new podium base and Bentley wheel were delayed due to current issues. How they handle those releases will show us all of they’ve improved or simply expect months wait isn’t an issue for consumers. Change starts from the top, it too much for Thomas to manage unfortunately.
I’d like to add, thank you very much for this interview. I know fanatec had summoned other content creators for interviews to help fix their image. I love my fanatec gear, just not how they treat us or look down to us the way they speak to the community, as shown in this interview.
sounds like he was good to start the company but as it grew larger and larger, he should have had a new ceo to replace him that knew how to run a large company. he could have stayed as president or something to call the larger shots, but have someone under him to run the company in general.
I agree with this. The growth has been a curse and blessing. Still curious if they will allow another interview with boosted media, or just hope to ride it out. @@KingLuis1985
He said all the dates on the website are correct now. I ordered CSL DD Ready2Race McLaren Elite Bundle last week, it still says Ships within 4-7 days on their website btw, but when I check my order it says QR1 Lite Wheel-Side is available at Mar 26, 2024. So how is this shipping date correct??
I haven’t been upset by fanatec as I only have a standard CSL DD, but this guys decision making is insane. The solution is simple, sell the non pS5 version now and state “pS5 DD+ coming soon”. Let’s be honest, they didn’t want to miss Christmas sales knowing full well they couldn’t deliver.
TBH they DID state "coming soon" for the DD+ but they gave extra info by stating that they EXPECTED to be able to start deliveries from the 19th December. This is where things have screwed up. I placed my order for the DD+, Podium Porsche Wheel & V3 Pedals (€2,000) on 21st November to take advantage of the Black Friday Sale prices (V3 pedals with Tuning kit & Damper kit for just €300 !!!!!!) & I'm still waiting for it BUT as he says in the video, there's nothing HE & Fanatec can do about it because they're waiting on Sony to grant the Tech licence before they can then start shipping & I have had FOUR emails from Fanatec apologising & updating me with the info (though there really isn't any new info) that they're still waiting on Sony but HOPE to get the licence in February. HOWEVER .... having said all of that (& as Thomas says in the video) it would have been better if they'd given themselves a bigger buffer ie expect to deliver on 19th December but say that deliveries would start at the end of January type of thing, but many people would still have placed early pre-orders just to take advantage (like I did) of the Black Friday Sales Prices.
@@stevecleaver8933 I hear what you’re saying but saying “coming soon” means that those who want to wait for the PS5 version can wait until it’s available and the one that is available can be ordered. What they actually did was take orders (with payment in full) for something that wasn’t even licensed, and still isn’t with no definite date as to when that may happen. People moan about Tesla for example constantly delaying the release and delivery of new car models, but Atleast they only take a small and instantly refundable deposit. The claim that their website can’t take a deposit for a wheelbase, only full price is just silly and shows how the company has grown up above the CEO’s skill set.
@@gameofdrones7895 Well, it was a preorder for the DD+, to get it first, and now it's delayed for around two Month. That's a pain if you wan't to race. But a least they should upgrade the shop and logistic system to bill your CC at the day they ship the unit.
Dude I’m impressed you got to interview him and ask tough questions. You’re awesome for doing this. No one else has done it that I’m aware of. Appreciate this. 👏😎
Thank you for this interview. The questions asked are very relevant Too bad the answers aren't convincing. It's far too late to apologize. The technical problems mentioned in no way excuse FANATEC's commercial policy. There is a forgotten subject: after-sales service which is also disastrous. After more than €4,500 spent at FANATEC, I have no plans to return there under any circumstances!
@@AWENGERR Ill let you in on a secret hes not the typical german he got money from his rich parents and started a company that bought simracing stuff from a chinese guy thats how it started and the company blew up due to corona and a random mistake that turned into the best thing to happen for the company. he rly rly loves his new rich lifestyle and he doesnt care about anyone and well he obv wants to maintain this lifestyle.
Thanks for the interview Kireth and that you were brave to say the truth about Fanatec where other influencers were quitet because they got payed by Fanatec 🤐🤐🤐🤐
you're a bit gullible if you think this is anything more than a collab marketing stunt. Shocking company with shocking business ethics with a shocking outlook
@@ohnomk8625 This is just a PR damage control stunt, im sure all these questions are doctored and this was an entirely planned 'interview'. Hopefully more people can see thru this.
Very close to canceling my $2000 black friday order over this video. I didnt order a dd+.. this prick sounds like a politician who already has my money and tells me to be patient after no word for two months who thinks its ok to ship new orders before mine. What a joke fanatec has become.
hahaha this guy is exactly how i expected him to be "i'm sorry for both sides, for all the customers but also our customer service " you don't get to keep people's money for months without a single communication. here's an idea, don't keep someone's money for months with not a single reply. give option to refund, then you can stop feeling sorry for customer and customer service. Thanks Fanatec for teaching me what a chargeback is, and what a Paypal claim is.
Exactly. He regrets it happened, but he knows exactly what they did not stating correct stock levels or delivery dates and just wanted to Secure consumers money
All I hear are excuses from this guy. Just come out and and say you screwed up. Your company name is being used for big race events and everything else in-between, you are not a small company in any way. When you charge what you charge for a product like what you have you are a big company and should have to capability to handle what you claim to have. Your black Friday offers should of been planned a year in advance every time so you don't have these problems. I'm so glade I bought a used system and not wasted my time and money on the black Friday deal.
So I have 3 takeaways from this: - we communicated with everyone about the mistake and delays and gave them to option to cancel. LIES. I would have cancelled months ago if I ever received that email. - would you change anything with regards to the PS wheel? No. Imagine being in this situation and not at least thinking “yeah we really should have been open about this situation. Maybe not taken money for something we were never permitted to sell”. - as expected, Fanatec just doesn’t care. When given the opportunity to speak to his customers that are now buying from elsewhere, the response was effectively “meh, they probably aren’t even watching”. I deeply, deeply regret ever giving this brand my money and now strongly advocate for people buying anything BUT Fanatec. This was true before this interview and it’s now set in stone. Fanatec, you should be ashamed of yourselves. To Fanatec’s competitors, what a rare gift of a situation.
I totally get that you are upset but also, you have no clue how international, licensing and supply chains work. There is so many moving parts in launching a new product or multiple products in an ecosystem and you try to anticipate and add buffers but you cant foresee everything. Also why is no one shitting on Sony for prolonging that process?
when have you ordered you DD+, at black Friday or later? And usually you can cancel any order, not matter if it's shipped or not. Maybe that depends on the country you're based. But for me, I do not work for Fanatec, I understand you're not happy. But what alternatives are around with 15nm an PS5 and PC compatibility? Have you found one?
I was given an option to cancel in an exchange for a 25% voucher or to wait until my product will be back in stock (supposedly end of March). I did cancel, got the voucher and ordered stuff with the 25% discount (different wheel, QR2, apm, etc) which I have all received last week. Yes, it was frustrating at the time, but I can believe they clearly had a technical problem and hope they will take it as a lessons learned for BF 2024.
the thing is they were open but people spinned it into things it were not. take one look on the forumn and tell me its not all twisted and such. he also collaborated on why it did not work with not taking the money untill it could be shipped. they dident have that infrastructure in place on there website . its also not easy to do. i can see when i look at his face he feels very sorry for what happened and i do believe truly they want to improve . thye also had permission to sell i think you are just getting things mixed up in the end
He said that they put CS DD+ up for pre-order early because the CS DD was already up for pre-order, so that people wouldn't pre-order DD instead of DD+ and later complain about not knowing about DD+. But that makes NO SENSE, because they could have just released all the information about DD+ without offering pre-orders until they have the technical approval from Sony. Their actual thoughts were probably just "making more money by the end of the year and making the financial report look better".
This is simply wrong. Pre orders are never part of your actual turnover. And the guys company is 120M a year. That’s 2.3 million a WEEK. I think his balance sheet is fine tbh.
@OnlyFoolsGaming If they could spend some of those millions making their logistic work better they wouldn't have their CEO come in and apologize. They got greedy and forgot to make sure their customers were well cared for.
The fact that he says they wouldn’t do anything differently (without being prodded) re: CS DD+ tells you all you need to know about him and his company. Zero accountability. He obviously knew he was going to be interviewed and would be asked about the CS DD+; and for that to be his initial answer shows he really DGAF about customers and doesn’t even think they could have handled the situation better.
Full BS! Fanatec has never cared for their customers. Great product but horrible service. I find no sincerity in his answers. The par where he mentioned the issues are now resolved and the dates show on site when order are accurate was bull shhh as well. I placed an order 12 days ago, and there has been not a single update, customer services does not answer and just provides a generic canned response to the email. Luckily we have many many other (better) options with actual care and response to their customers.
If there's anything for customers to learn from this situation it's that you shouldn't trust what this guy says. Big changes at Fanatec? Yeah sure..I'll believe it when I see it Thomas. I won't be taking your word for it.
@@michaelharder3055 yes, I actually am 🥹 unlike him, many others and maybe even yourself, I do not have legs. As a result, I don’t even bother thinking about passports. I spend alot of my time racing on gt7, it’s my happy place. When I ordered my dd pro, it arrived within a week, and I’m Sydney. I thought it would be nice to acknowledge a person with a passport and the ability to walk.
Interesting indeed. I’m not a business person but this wouldn’t make me a confident customer of Fanatec that’s certain. Thanks Kireth Sounds like they need to hire more folks to help keep up with demand. Sounds like they took more orders than they could handle in order to capitalize on Black Friday sales. In short I don’t completely buy that it was a technical problem 100%. Seems to me as a technical glitch is a scapegoat for “We sold too much to make holiday profit” Cynic at heart here.
What a ridiculous statement he made about the DD+. We had to take people's money for it even though we really didn't have it for sale so that they wouldn't buy the DD and then regret it when the DD+ was available. So you lied to them that it was available, and took their money rather than just let them know it would be available in future? That one small part of the interview, and the insight it gives into how Thomas Jackermeier views his customers, tells you everything you need to know about why Fanatec are the hot mess they are today. Any company that maximizes income and profits by knowingly lying to their customers deserves their one way ticket to bankruptcy.
@@wynarator The question is did the board had the authority to fire him or was he forced to stepped down by the banks? Is quite interesting that the banks got so involved in a private business matter. For them to put such terms then Fanatec must have had some heavy losses on paper that the banks could see. Anyway the guy seemed to be over his head so a change was needed. Let's hope the new guy is not just some number pusher and knows that you have to have happy clients for the numbers to add up nice and well.
This is a classic case of what is called Founders Syndrome. "Founder’s syndrome occurs when a founder struggles or refuses to ‘change gear’ and adopt a new mindset, approach or skill set as the organization grows and as its strategic context changes. Rather than making way for a new leader to take the organization to the next level, the founder tries to hang on to power. The founder becomes unable to achieve the outcomes associated with effective leadership. The organization then becomes maladapted - inappropriately or poorly adapted to its environment."
I order a CSL DD McLaren Bundle for Black Friday. Was delivered early January. During the time of awaiting my order customer service was nonexistent and so was tracking. Everyone’s gripes about the situation is valid. With all that being said I love my fanatec.
@@RichRacin well all that stuff is much more expennsive. i still can't see a competitor for the csl dd. I can't comment on even higher end stuff. Mozas wheelbase is a expensive a fanatec ready2race bundle.
I hear you brother, we all started somewhere.....myself with Logitech lol. All I can say is once you step up and sit down, your first thoughts/feelings will be "I DIDNT KNOW!!!" 🤯
@@Klorel123 Same here, I took the risk cuz i cant spend more then this on a setup right now. I did receive my order before the due date tho so guess I was lucky, I then ordered a boost kit for it etc and that did take a bit longer. I did receive customers supports answer after a few days tho.
I was almost one of the people anxiously waiting for my order to ship. When I realized the new quick release system was backordered I went with a different company. I do hope Fanatec is able to learn from all of this and turn it around as competition is always good for the customer.
This is the way Fanatec has always been, so those who are not familiar with their business model. The sell through their stock, then instead of having them be out of stock for long, once they have a time-frame to restock they open up for pre-order/back-order. It is pretty ingenious approach as you end up not having stockpiles of product that doesn't move, and ensures you aren't having to pay the inventory cost of holding onto stock for long periods. Don't expect this to change, it has been this way for over 10 years.
I'm glad I never got into the fanatec eco system. Thomas comes across as arrogant and patronising. I dont think he really grasps how angry people clearly are for how they feel they have been treated.
tbh thats up to you to demand. a shipping delay is annoying but thats not a reason to prematurely offer refunds if you are a company. being open to refund-requests, yes.
Good work and disposition from your side, to everyone involved. I'm not waiting anything from this company, and I can't understand how so many people still trust on this even after see this interview and the lack of compromise of this man. If they survive is just because the fanatism for brands can achieve unbelievable levels on some humans.
@@matttiaz7576 I would say that Nvidia and Apple have some appeal, as they have proprietary technologies and a pretty smooth running ecosystem (for Apple). But Fanatec... They honestly got nothing more that some newcomer Chinese or Danish companies.
This is really really interesting, the Body language which is shown by their ceo is really concerning tbh. I would love to hear what his employees saying to this interview.
“From a business point of view, I regret that this happened”. 7:40. Inferring that from a customer point of view it’s too bad. No regrets, no recourse.
TLDNW. Had a really bad, expensive, annoying experience with fanatec. A complete and utter poorly managed 💩 show. Influencers still using and promoting their products should be ashamed. Ching, Ching... Probably not though eh?
@@deltazero3796 They don't need to do it 24/7. They just need to reply within a timely manner of 24 to 48 hours, just like every other company does. Maybe you learn that when you eventually grow up.
@@deltazero3796for real? You really think fanatec ships tons of item on a daily basis? It's not Amazon, man, wake up. Those are very nieche products and in a relatively small demand. I just love to see how you will try to return non-working equipment talking to an AI, considering there is no such option in it's 'mind' lol
Where did he say customer complaints? I heard handling QUESTIONS like “where is my order” which companies have given customer access too for years now. Did you think someone was on the other end of the computer sending a response or working the program for you? God yall wanna complain about everything
As long as I can remember sim racers have been complaining about waiting for Fanatec gear.There has always been a mismatch between orders customers want to place for delivery and what Fanatec have in stock. If you place an order for anything,pay up front and wait 3 months you are financing their business Maybe they dont want to borrow heavily to finance adequate stock. His answers sounded honest but I cant believe they have come this far with such great products and made such fundamental mistakes that do so much damage.I was thinking about upgrading to a Fanatec DD wheel but will definitely shop arounds after this debacle.
Its hilarious to see people whine and complain about parts for what are essentially video games while multiple major industries have been dealing with and doing business like this for decades. That said I love my fanatec setup and i bought it right in the middle of all the stock and shipping issues…. BUT alot of people are looking at and going the moza route.
Here is my Fanatec experience : Ordered Nov 27; pedals, shifter, wheel base, wheel. I received the shifter and pedals the end of December. Got two emails, Dec 29 and 30 saying that fanatec had sent me 2 packages. It is February 4th and the tracking information still only says that a label has been created. I would not recommend that anyone buy fanatec products.
Very similar experience. Ordered wheel, base unit and pedals on 27th November, and they arrived here at home in the UK last Saturday. Previously Fanatec didn't have that much competition but now this market sector is hotting up, and as witnessed in many industries, it is all too easy to lose customers to the new companies, who leapfrog over you, and you never get them back. Fanatec's market share will plummet. There's nothing unique about them anymore so differentiators like customer service become hugely important. Fanatec had better listen and change their processes and attitude fast
You were lucky, I didn't receive any email. One day the order just arrived. No tracking number in my account and if I hadn't picked up the unknown number I wouldn't have even known they were delivering something to me
Same story here.. almost. No contact at all from fanatec regarding my 2 mails questioning whats happening, "availability date on pre-ordered parts changed twice, took my money on October 27, 2023.. Still no product or contact from them. Over $2000 USD spent.. did I mention they already took my money over 2 months ago and I havnt heard from them at all?
These guys are scamming people, they take the orders, even they have no stock. They are scared,shitless that everyone is going to buy other brands. Not very smart, in the Netherlands more and more people are selling their Fanatec stuff just to go to the competition, which is trustworthy and give service in a reasonable time.
i hope they read this. I've been a Fanatec customer for about 15 years now, purchased multiple products from them. My DD1 had an issue 2 months after the end of my warranty. took 2 wks just to get it shipped to them. They made no effort to repair it ( would've been fine with paying for the repairs). They said it can not be repaired, with no explanation. forced my hand to pay $899 for a refurbished one. Less than a month later they had a sale on new ones for that price. I'll never buy another item from them. Shit customer service.
Excellent stuff, Kireth. You gave him a good grilling and you didn't hold back with the questions. I don't think this helped him win back his customers to be honest. The DD+ situation is bizzare! He says the technical tests are all that need to be carried out and approved, like making sure the buttons match the game 🤨 surely that is a 2 minute test at most to click each button and make sure it is doing what it's supposed to! And surely, if you run a 24 hour test of it running continuously on a PlayStation and you have no issues, then that's the technical test done? I can't help but think he is telling us porky pies when it comes to a lot of these vague answers! He thanked you for letting Fanatec voice these answers, but do they not have their own youtube channel 🤔
I use to work at a video game company in the US and we released a game on XBox, PC and PS, so I can validate from my experience that Sony is notorious for creating the biggest red tape to get certification to sell a game compared to XBox and PC. Real example from my time there, we submitted a build of our game weeks before we expected to get the gold release which means those that will be mass produced, and Sony rejected our certification bc of a typo on the paperwork. No big deal right? You think just resubmit the paperwork with it fixed…not so fast bc Sony requires a full recertification each time they reject or fail your application which means they do a full thorough test of the game from start to finish to ensure no major bugs exist and cause the game to crash. How does this differ to a physical product? I can’t speak to but I can only assume if they are that rigorous with software I can’t imagine the amount of testing they do for physical products to ensure it works in every scenario possible. Not an excuse for Fanatec bc I’m still waiting on refund for button caps on BF that still has not materialized. There is a reason customer support agents go through specific training on how to handle things bc you can put anyone behind a keyboard but that doesn’t mean they know how to respond and retain customers.
Yeh, I can believe that, too. I hate all that red tape shite!They could have released the Clubsport DD and announced the DD+ as they have dealt with Sony before and surely they know the process is arduous as hell! I suppose there is no point crying over spilled milk. Im gonna just wait it out and not get a refund as the old Csl DD is still workin grand but I can see how people who are waiting on it to complete their setup are so furious over this delay in getting the DD+ @cbdaytona675
@@cbdaytona675 - Yeah, and that 'red tape' is the reason for XBOX constantly failing due to them releasing trash games on their trash systems due to a lack of quality control and corner cutting antics which leads to customers getting scuffed products. Sony has always been known for their quality assurance.
Absurd. Purchased a Clubsport DD+, CSL pedals & wheel for my 9 yr old and me who play GT7 daily, back in October when the DD+ was first offered and delivery date of 12/12. He's still waiting for his Christmas present. Wheels & pedal in a box now for months cause we can't use them of course with our Thrustmaster. And yes, you can call Sony and say "c'mon man", yes you can. In fact that's exactly what you do if you want to stay in business and out of court.
This video last month was a complete smoke show of BS 3/26 nothing has changed , got another email another delay 4 more weeks, yet the web site shows items in stock ships in 4 days more BS more lies!!
My main issue with the response to the DD+ is that they want us to wait but why did they take our money or take the whole amount. It's easy for him to say be patient and we have to wait. Paying 1k for our items with conflicting information is very frustrated and not getting accurate info is bad business practice if not being deceptive. There should have been large print on the top stating this this item is pending Sony approval so that there was no doubt there was something still pending the release. Also, the story about air shipping those items to the warehouses in December should have mentioned that they are still pending which no mention was made. No accurate info, very deceptive practices, and limited responses from Fanatec increases the frustration. This almost sounds to me like he is full of himself and like take it or leave it. He should be sorry for his customers, if they had enough support or did the right thing people would be less frustrated or mad. They have no one to blame but themselves. Don't make your company to be the victim.
@@bigredracingteam9642 I'm rich, I can frikkin wait for a WHEEEEEL BASE lol. Gah. You Fanatec haters whine more than any other kind of consumer I swear. It's tooooo easy to troll you dorks. You need a loan, pumpkin?
we selling thing to peeple we dont have like wtf! they are so mutch in bad standing Close your F...... website down to all peeple have there product, and u have sim racing procuct in stock !!!
He regrets it happened, but he knows exactly what they did not stating correct stock levels or delivery dates and just wanted to Secure consumers money
Thank you for this interview, it has helped convince me that I made the right decision by not ordering the Fanatec gear I had in my cart. The interview is full of excuses but the one that bothers me the most is why NO ONE from Fanatec regularly responds with updates to the Blog on Fanatec's own website! Good or bad news any communications would have helped. I really feel bad for all those people who are stuck with no way to contact anyone and no way of getting legit updates on what is going on. This interview is too little too late and Fanatec has burned a lot of customers.
don't have anythng on order now. But have 3 wheels, csl dd, v3 pedal's w/mod,s and a shifter. Never a problem/ shipping or correspondence. growing pains, patience people. to much instance gratification expected these days.
I am what you call a whale. When I get into a hobby I go all the way. They lost me for life. Once I went through what I did with my ordering in early November I began to research them deeper. You find nothing but bad. Across the board. No other brand delivers broken gear out of the box and then takes months if not a year to replace it with a working unit. Mind boggling. Simagic has me now and I’ll never touch anything fanatec has any involvement with.
Imagine if i was still waiting nearly 3 months like many are. Then after all that time it shows up and doesn’t work. Like many of them are. How can you be making 120 million a year and have this poor of a logistics system and quality.
Very rarely comment, but wanted to applaud you on this interview. Subscribed. A very fair interview that asked all the questions the other "GearTubers" should have been asking too. As a former journalist and now long-time PR consultant, I can absolutely say this is a lesson in how not to give an interview after your company has screwed up. Total absence of good crisis management doctrine by Fanatec throughout and somehow managed to make it all about them - tells you everything you need to know about the culture of arrogance from this company. I'm not buying anything else from this guy....
Sadly, they’re still horrible at responding to emails in a timely manner. Why does it takes them over a week at this point in February to respond to a simple email. They’re quick to charge you for something but not for any else.
I ordered *GranTurismo-DD Extreme, *CSL pedal bundle with load cell on April 2nd, 2024. Today on April 5th, 2024 the UPS man was at my front door with 3 boxes from Fanatec. All delivery problem fears for nothing Great service from Fanatec!!!
It explains nothing more than what we already knew. With all my respect, regarding the CS DD+, the situation is simple: Fanatec shouldn’t announce and sell a product that isn’t approved by Sony. Punkt Schluss. Apparently it is hard to admit it.
Were you listening? Sony approved Fanatec to start selling them. They shouldn’t have done that if they were going to drag their feet for months doing the final certification.
Warranty Question. I am happy to see the question was asked but he failed to address it. I have a ticket opened to get it resolved but no response from support. BTW great interview Kireth
This is what happens when you overextend your business model. Borrowing from Peter to pay Paul. The "charge me now ship it later" approach simply means that the company has no available reserve capital outside of current customer income to actually make new products. It's no longer "if we build it they will come." Instead it's "if they pay for it we will build it.....later." 🤣
Ordered a podium hub after seeing this interview. Delivery date was March 8. It just changed to April 11. So Thomas was lying when he mentioned that delivery dates on his site were correct. Will cancel the hub and no more Fanatec for me.
It actually taken Kireth to fly over to Germany for an interview to get any further information on the mess that is Fanatec. Funny how a you tuber gets involved and they then advise of the errors on there x2 internal systems. It’s hilarious his wording chosen to explain what has happened and all they say is sorry. No extra mile going for all the customers affected at all. Just shows that they are not the top of the sim racing community anymore and I won’t be the only one going to another company
Thanks for this video. At least we have a youtuber that really cares for our concerns. This comment is coming from a Fanatec Fan boy. I owned 4 bases and 4 wheels. My reply to this video is simply GREED. No way they should put the CsDd without the full license on sale. Also these issues started before the black Friday so why they created a bigger problem and offered crazy discount ?
Thank you for admitting that. I’m new to fanatec from the bf sale and this video really confirms everything I’ve been thinking. This mf doesn’t care cause it was planned
10:23 nah that's not true, I'm a new customer and I ordered my rig with one item saying it will be shipped on April 2nd, and after a week or two it changed to May 13 or smth like that. Also it seems like they are 4 months behind the orders..
Big respect to you for doing this. Its a shame because I want to upgrade my current setup on xbox and Fanatec is by far the best option to go for, but no way can I drop so much money after the stories I've been hearing over the past few months
To be honest i was hesitant too … i placed my order 26 of jan received it on 31 of jan not to mention it was placed on a weekend … i got dd pro qr2 for the base and wheel side and and csl load cell all received in the same package… i believe everything is back in order now … hope u find this useful.
Dude i would have cancel i have tried to comunicate about 10 time to them they never respond, they just dosent care, if they would want us to cancel they would have to lol
Yeah 2 weeks for me, dd, wheel & elite V2 pedals, qr2 wheel & base .. took about 12 days but they mentioned the transitions in house & the 6-7 day delay so no complaints from me
The problem is tsht only the black Friday orders aren't delivered. The reason is they sold too many very cheap orders. So now they just wait until customers cancel so they don't have to deliver the far too cheap units
This is my first experience with Fanatec, I chose just because of many options of wheels and accessories. I bought the bundle F1 steering wheel 2023, pedals V3, and DD+. I still waiting for DD+ since December/2023, this is terrible, and we just receive automatic message generated by the system, saying that "we still running with the approvals bla bla bla". I hope they can solve this soon for all community.
Holy crap this explains so much. Such a nonchalant attitude. This guy is on cruise control mode and resting on his success. It just filters down from there and you get a half assed effort from everyone. This is a public company and if I was a major share holder I'd want him stepping down as CEO.
I think it's positive that the CEO takes time to do this interview, with (no offense at all) a "youtuber" and not a "professional reporter". I mean it's rare to see a CEO of such a big company address the community so directly. At the very least, it shows a desire to be a bit transparent. So kudos on not hiding like many other big video-game related companies usually do. And thanks kireth for your dedication to this subject and flying there to meet with Thomas, I thought the title might have been clickbait, but I was pleased to see how wrong I was
With 76k sim racing specific subscribers I would say this is a better platform than a "professional reporter" would get. The Fanatec CEO is about as tone deaf as it gets, look forward to watching all the other sim companies who put customers first slowly crushing Fanatec into dust.
This company is sick, they don't even post issues or delays on their website, instead they mark them as "Pre orders" with an available time frame that is not accurate. This bad business practice is unacceptable. They use other peoples money to keep afloat. This company should be banned from doing business in the US. Terrible communication, customer support and CEO.
@@CasuallyCareening when I have pre ordered anything from Apple they do what’s called an Authorisation hold and don’t take the money until it’s shipped Some items that are on Amazon also use this same method also And if I recall correctly when I preordered the psvr2 that was only an authorisation hold too and yes the money was frozen on my bank account but remained in pending until it was shipped Different companies use different methods however the majority that do take the funds do actually ship on the date they said they would They initially give everyone a date of preorder and that’s what people expected This was all before Christmas and many had probably placed these orders for kids at Christmas or even for themselves knowing they would have some downtime from work at Christmas The whole fanatec issue could of been easier to digest if they had just been more transparent First it was blamed on shipping and then on licensing Shipping was never an issue if they never had the licence so was just a wave 1 excuse followed by additional warehousing excuses and then realised they can’t use that excuse anymore so had to announce the licencing issue. Giving a date on something without a licence is like hitting the self destruct and it poor practice. They had my money since Black Friday but have now done a chargeback and gone Asetek which so far has been great but I do miss not having the ps compatibility but apparently Asetek will have an upgrade path for this so the future is bright :) If not I will give the Drivehub a whirl
I would like to add that I feel the quality of the hardware should now also be questioned. Some more recent equipment suffers from very basic and avoidable build quality issues. Not what I would expect from a premium brand. When I next upgrade it will not be Fanatec anymore after being a customer for many years. An example of this would be terrible shaft clamp mechanism design employed on the CSL DD range.
lol, corporate spin. Explain how a "sync" issue on BF sales has my order from Nov sitting as processing while the EXACT same product is available and shipped within days for new orders being placed last week? Its simple, the BF sales did way better than what they thought and as he called out, they're losing money on them so hoping that delaying and not shipping leads to cancellation of orders.
![NOSFERATU - Official Trailer [HD] - Only In Theaters December 25](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/nulvWqYUM8k/mqdefault.jpg)
Want to see more interviews like this? Just hit that subscribe button (or click this link) - your direct support means I can go and do interviews like this on your behalf. Thanks!! ruclips.net/user/Kireth
You asked some great questions.Maybe interview some other people in the industry.
His answers sounded ok but the entire situation does not really add up.My guess is Fanatec wanted the cashflow that came with the Black Friday deal,they got the cash but they also got a ton of problems that they were not prepared for.
Guys this interview was not sponsored by Fanatec! Make sure to share this video!
Good on you Kireth for doing this. The production value on the video is amazing as well. You could be working at the BBC. Would be great getting a Q&A Session with other industry leaders.
In order to increase the company's profits, the price of fanatec's QR2 is too high. Consumers need to spend more than $100 to update their own quick release. I bought a QR2 Pro on AliExpress, and its price is only half of fanatec's. The quality is exactly the same.
i would like to hear interviews rather than watch them
He tried to blow off the complaints about warranties on partial shipments expiring by starting off with "well we were the first ones who had an ecosystem" lol. Glad to hear they are now "exploring" the revolutionary idea of shipping multiple items from the same warehouse in the same box.
To be fair: most parcels services have wage limits on the parcels, and only smaller (lighter) things can be shipped combined.
My CSL DD and stuff (one wheel, pedals, wheel base, quick release) was shipped in 3 parcels 2 years ago, and I waited 9 weeks.
Absolute bullshit, just got all my Asetek gear in one box. The guy is a lying crook that wouldn't know the truth if he fell over it.
To be even more fair: Kireth asked both questions but then said hes mainly interessted in the single package shipment issue.
@@alphastratus6623 Grate 9 weeks! that's awesome. Really really good. I placed an order for a custom rig with motedis (huge company with warehouses all over Europe) Some parts needed to be manufactured. Not everything was in stock at the same warehouse, in the same country, so they needed to collect them first. Every part had to be cut, drilled and threaded to my specifications and I received it all at once, not even four weeks later.
Absolutely agree. I was a warehouse manager for an international company - it's not a problem in this day and age to send it in one box, or make sure everything arrives the same day.
Absolute joke this Thomas guy
You would think this would wake up Fanatec help them realize they need to actually provide customer service.
Dude says nobody wants to work nights u pay them good they will
Haha....yea. jackermeiers message was basically we are sorry, all our suff broke, order some more stuff lol. Yea ok...
@@deeb0218 they could hire outside of germany and have multiple customer service locations like in south america and south east asian to always have 24/7 service without paying an arm and a leg
I understand your frustration, but what would you do? Employ 20 more people, take 2 months to train them all fully with the kit, train them another month how to handle phone calls and emails, then employ them on the shop floor for 2 weeks because by now you've sorted the back log, then sack them all because they're not needed any more?
That's a whole load of headaches and energy that could be directed more meaningfully in different directions.
@@MuntyScruntFundle no its about honesty. Fanatec told me in multiple emails about delays and issues with shipping and how they were air freiting the dd+ to me to get it to me in december. In january we find out they didnt have the license. Why rush it if they couldnt do anything with it? Why not tell me in decemver they didnt have a license?
He does not strike me as someone that is actually that sorry for what happened but rather sorry for the time he has to spend dealing with the fallout.
All they had to do was to release statements on this right after Black Friday when they realized what had happened.
"I'm sorry for both side" is very much what one would say when they are only sorry for themselves.
People who are really sorry for others don't talk about themselves at all.
@@PierreAlainAdouane I agree 100%.
Exactly!!! The arrogance is strong with this one
Yeah, got that feeling too when he glanced at his watch at the 20 min marker. Yeah.. I feel his pain. Still watching the clock waiting for my Black Friday order.
Seems like he's pumped to rip us off, now I have a shifter sitt8ng and collecting dust because they forced me to keep just part of the order because I didn't request my refund within 14 days, the problem they didn't email me back for 7 weeks about my order so I had no idea I needed to send it back. They made millions on others misfortune.
When the interviewer has a better sense of managing a business than the CEO...
At least he did man up, have the interview and explain what had happened. Good to get dates for shipping (by March) Its a bad situation for customers and he should have the decency to apologise to the customers rather than taking this from business only point of view - also people shouldn't find out this way it should be clearly communicated to customers. Half the issue is taking orders without stock, the other half the issue is pisspor communication and management of this crisis.
I never had any issues with my orders (Wheel set in June and quick change adapter on Black Friday)
Bingo
Yeah I’m sure you have tons of CEO experience to say that. Always easy to judge from a distance.
He seemed very hesitant on saying they’re losing profit. Almost as if it’s almost equal. And considering most of these products are being discounted and rerunning the assembly line is far more expensive than continuing with the next gen, I wonder how much profit these competitive companies are still making when their products are full price and in mass production.
@@1997LT1Camaro I mean anyone can do a bad job. But doing it right? Not everyone.
As a loyal fanatec customer for over 3 yrs, with more equipment I care to list ( 3 rigs) it’s clear to us now that the issues start from the top. Thomas is a nice guy, but clearly in over his head how to proceed, even decades later.
Now I understand why they marketing/customer service manager is so incompetent, they don’t have sound leadership above them. Too much shady talk by Thomas. Especially as I still have a fam member waiting on a blk Friday order.
The new podium base and Bentley wheel were delayed due to current issues. How they handle those releases will show us all of they’ve improved or simply expect months wait isn’t an issue for consumers.
Change starts from the top, it too much for Thomas to manage unfortunately.
I’d like to add, thank you very much for this interview. I know fanatec had summoned other content creators for interviews to help fix their image.
I love my fanatec gear, just not how they treat us or look down to us the way they speak to the community, as shown in this interview.
Over 8 years for me, everything being sold and have gone to Asetek /simlab. Absolute disgrace of a company.
Having worked there. This is spot on.
sounds like he was good to start the company but as it grew larger and larger, he should have had a new ceo to replace him that knew how to run a large company. he could have stayed as president or something to call the larger shots, but have someone under him to run the company in general.
I agree with this. The growth has been a curse and blessing. Still curious if they will allow another interview with boosted media, or just hope to ride it out. @@KingLuis1985
He said all the dates on the website are correct now.
I ordered CSL DD Ready2Race McLaren Elite Bundle last week, it still says Ships within 4-7 days on their website btw, but when I check my order it says QR1 Lite Wheel-Side is available at Mar 26, 2024.
So how is this shipping date correct??
Yeah it is because they say that they will ship when everything is in warehouse so you will get it maybe at 1s of april
@@Desovec no I won't. my Moza arrived in 8 days from order :)
@@puna48 alrighty, i have to wait because i have it on xbox
im was just abot to hit buy and saw this
not any more he dont care people spent alot of money it was just free money to get his bank look better
I haven’t been upset by fanatec as I only have a standard CSL DD, but this guys decision making is insane. The solution is simple, sell the non pS5 version now and state “pS5 DD+ coming soon”. Let’s be honest, they didn’t want to miss Christmas sales knowing full well they couldn’t deliver.
💯 agree. To not own up to that is an oversight with a bit of arrogance
TBH they DID state "coming soon" for the DD+ but they gave extra info by stating that they EXPECTED to be able to start deliveries from the 19th December. This is where things have screwed up. I placed my order for the DD+, Podium Porsche Wheel & V3 Pedals (€2,000) on 21st November to take advantage of the Black Friday Sale prices (V3 pedals with Tuning kit & Damper kit for just €300 !!!!!!) & I'm still waiting for it BUT as he says in the video, there's nothing HE & Fanatec can do about it because they're waiting on Sony to grant the Tech licence before they can then start shipping & I have had FOUR emails from Fanatec apologising & updating me with the info (though there really isn't any new info) that they're still waiting on Sony but HOPE to get the licence in February.
HOWEVER .... having said all of that (& as Thomas says in the video) it would have been better if they'd given themselves a bigger buffer ie expect to deliver on 19th December but say that deliveries would start at the end of January type of thing, but many people would still have placed early pre-orders just to take advantage (like I did) of the Black Friday Sales Prices.
@@stevecleaver8933 I hear what you’re saying but saying “coming soon” means that those who want to wait for the PS5 version can wait until it’s available and the one that is available can be ordered. What they actually did was take orders (with payment in full) for something that wasn’t even licensed, and still isn’t with no definite date as to when that may happen. People moan about Tesla for example constantly delaying the release and delivery of new car models, but Atleast they only take a small and instantly refundable deposit. The claim that their website can’t take a deposit for a wheelbase, only full price is just silly and shows how the company has grown up above the CEO’s skill set.
@@gameofdrones7895 Well, it was a preorder for the DD+, to get it first, and now it's delayed for around two Month. That's a pain if you wan't to race. But a least they should upgrade the shop and logistic system to bill your CC at the day they ship the unit.
As they should to be fair , thats what the shareholders are wanting to see.
Dude I’m impressed you got to interview him and ask tough questions. You’re awesome for doing this. No one else has done it that I’m aware of. Appreciate this. 👏😎
Thanks! 🙌🙌
@@KirethHow did you get them to respond to your email requesting an interview? I cannot get any response and I paid them $$$$$.
I wouldn't be surprised if there was a small price. Is it just me, or did anyone else notice that Mr. CEO started and introduced the video🤔🤔
Fanatec told the him to do this interview with kireth as damage control, didn’t work very well lmao
Thank you for this interview.
The questions asked are very relevant
Too bad the answers aren't convincing.
It's far too late to apologize.
The technical problems mentioned in no way excuse FANATEC's commercial policy.
There is a forgotten subject: after-sales service which is also disastrous.
After more than €4,500 spent at FANATEC, I have no plans to return there under any circumstances!
haha i must have missed the apology. Sounded like excuses and justification to me.
This man has soo much pride in him and no remorse.
I wouldn't call it pride, I'd call it arrogance.
@@sanmiguel4019 He is German right ? Not all but majority of them are full of pride/arrogance
@@AWENGERR I know quite a lot of German people and cannot really say any of them are arrogant at all, but this guy definitely reeks of it!
@@AWENGERR Ill let you in on a secret hes not the typical german he got money from his rich parents and started a company that bought simracing stuff from a chinese guy thats how it started and the company blew up due to corona and a random mistake that turned into the best thing to happen for the company. he rly rly loves his new rich lifestyle and he doesnt care about anyone and well he obv wants to maintain this lifestyle.
@@AWENGERR the absolute peak irony in your statement, lol
Thanks for the interview Kireth and that you were brave to say the truth about Fanatec where other influencers were quitet because they got payed by Fanatec 🤐🤐🤐🤐
you're a bit gullible if you think this is anything more than a collab marketing stunt.
Shocking company with shocking business ethics with a shocking outlook
@@ohnomk8625 This is just a PR damage control stunt, im sure all these questions are doctored and this was an entirely planned 'interview'. Hopefully more people can see thru this.
@@ohnomk8625 you are also a bit gullible to think that the comment is from a legit human and not AI
@@ganeshshenoy2615 you are also a bit gullible to reply to the AI that replied to the AI.
Why didn’t he answer the question about the warranty ??
It depends on your country laws
Very close to canceling my $2000 black friday order over this video. I didnt order a dd+.. this prick sounds like a politician who already has my money and tells me to be patient after no word for two months who thinks its ok to ship new orders before mine. What a joke fanatec has become.
Thx for this Kireth. Too many red flags 🚩🚩🚩for me... will most likely avoid Fanatec altogether after seeing these issues.
hahaha this guy is exactly how i expected him to be "i'm sorry for both sides, for all the customers but also our customer service " you don't get to keep people's money for months without a single communication. here's an idea, don't keep someone's money for months with not a single reply. give option to refund, then you can stop feeling sorry for customer and customer service. Thanks Fanatec for teaching me what a chargeback is, and what a Paypal claim is.
Exactly. He regrets it happened, but he knows exactly what they did not stating correct stock levels or delivery dates and just wanted to Secure consumers money
All I hear are excuses from this guy. Just come out and and say you screwed up. Your company name is being used for big race events and everything else in-between, you are not a small company in any way. When you charge what you charge for a product like what you have you are a big company and should have to capability to handle what you claim to have. Your black Friday offers should of been planned a year in advance every time so you don't have these problems. I'm so glade I bought a used system and not wasted my time and money on the black Friday deal.
So I have 3 takeaways from this:
- we communicated with everyone about the mistake and delays and gave them to option to cancel. LIES. I would have cancelled months ago if I ever received that email.
- would you change anything with regards to the PS wheel? No. Imagine being in this situation and not at least thinking “yeah we really should have been open about this situation. Maybe not taken money for something we were never permitted to sell”.
- as expected, Fanatec just doesn’t care. When given the opportunity to speak to his customers that are now buying from elsewhere, the response was effectively “meh, they probably aren’t even watching”.
I deeply, deeply regret ever giving this brand my money and now strongly advocate for people buying anything BUT Fanatec. This was true before this interview and it’s now set in stone.
Fanatec, you should be ashamed of yourselves. To Fanatec’s competitors, what a rare gift of a situation.
I totally get that you are upset but also, you have no clue how international, licensing and supply chains work. There is so many moving parts in launching a new product or multiple products in an ecosystem and you try to anticipate and add buffers but you cant foresee everything. Also why is no one shitting on Sony for prolonging that process?
when have you ordered you DD+, at black Friday or later? And usually you can cancel any order, not matter if it's shipped or not. Maybe that depends on the country you're based. But for me, I do not work for Fanatec, I understand you're not happy. But what alternatives are around with 15nm an PS5 and PC compatibility? Have you found one?
I thought I didn't receive the email but for some reason it went straight to my spam
I was given an option to cancel in an exchange for a 25% voucher or to wait until my product will be back in stock (supposedly end of March). I did cancel, got the voucher and ordered stuff with the 25% discount (different wheel, QR2, apm, etc) which I have all received last week. Yes, it was frustrating at the time, but I can believe they clearly had a technical problem and hope they will take it as a lessons learned for BF 2024.
the thing is they were open but people spinned it into things it were not. take one look on the forumn and tell me its not all twisted and such. he also collaborated on why it did not work with not taking the money untill it could be shipped. they dident have that infrastructure in place on there website . its also not easy to do. i can see when i look at his face he feels very sorry for what happened and i do believe truly they want to improve . thye also had permission to sell i think you are just getting things mixed up in the end
He said that they put CS DD+ up for pre-order early because the CS DD was already up for pre-order, so that people wouldn't pre-order DD instead of DD+ and later complain about not knowing about DD+. But that makes NO SENSE, because they could have just released all the information about DD+ without offering pre-orders until they have the technical approval from Sony. Their actual thoughts were probably just "making more money by the end of the year and making the financial report look better".
Spot on 👍
Agree.
Well actually not really. Preorders are a balance sheet extension. They are recorded as liabilities and do not affect the profit and loss statement.
This is simply wrong. Pre orders are never part of your actual turnover. And the guys company is 120M a year. That’s 2.3 million a WEEK. I think his balance sheet is fine tbh.
@OnlyFoolsGaming If they could spend some of those millions making their logistic work better they wouldn't have their CEO come in and apologize. They got greedy and forgot to make sure their customers were well cared for.
The fact that he says they wouldn’t do anything differently (without being prodded) re: CS DD+ tells you all you need to know about him and his company. Zero accountability. He obviously knew he was going to be interviewed and would be asked about the CS DD+; and for that to be his initial answer shows he really DGAF about customers and doesn’t even think they could have handled the situation better.
Full BS! Fanatec has never cared for their customers. Great product but horrible service. I find no sincerity in his answers. The par where he mentioned the issues are now resolved and the dates show on site when order are accurate was bull shhh as well. I placed an order 12 days ago, and there has been not a single update, customer services does not answer and just provides a generic canned response to the email. Luckily we have many many other (better) options with actual care and response to their customers.
If there's anything for customers to learn from this situation it's that you shouldn't trust what this guy says.
Big changes at Fanatec? Yeah sure..I'll believe it when I see it Thomas. I won't be taking your word for it.
This dude should really resign… That’s the only way they will ever recover from this in a timely manner.
The fact that you actually flew to Germany and made this video has made me press the subscribe button 👍 good work
So you are impressed by someone with a passport and the ability to walk?
Or they could just have made the Interview with a local German here
same here!
@@michaelharder3055 yes, I actually am 🥹 unlike him, many others and maybe even yourself, I do not have legs.
As a result, I don’t even bother thinking about passports.
I spend alot of my time racing on gt7, it’s my happy place.
When I ordered my dd pro, it arrived within a week, and I’m Sydney.
I thought it would be nice to acknowledge a person with a passport and the ability to walk.
@@michaelharder3055
I’m actually impressed that you have chosen that line of questioning.
🫤🤨😕😂
Interesting indeed. I’m not a business person but this wouldn’t make me a confident customer of Fanatec that’s certain. Thanks Kireth
Sounds like they need to hire more folks to help keep up with demand.
Sounds like they took more orders than they could handle in order to capitalize on Black Friday sales.
In short I don’t completely buy that it was a technical problem 100%.
Seems to me as a technical glitch is a scapegoat for “We sold too much to make holiday profit” Cynic at heart here.
What a ridiculous statement he made about the DD+. We had to take people's money for it even though we really didn't have it for sale so that they wouldn't buy the DD and then regret it when the DD+ was available. So you lied to them that it was available, and took their money rather than just let them know it would be available in future? That one small part of the interview, and the insight it gives into how Thomas Jackermeier views his customers, tells you everything you need to know about why Fanatec are the hot mess they are today. Any company that maximizes income and profits by knowingly lying to their customers deserves their one way ticket to bankruptcy.
The fanatec CEO was fired today, justice has been served
What? Really? I thought he was the founder and owned the most stocks. Did the board manage to kick him out?
@@SIPEROTH yeah it was banks condition to extend leases to board fire him, you can read it in eandor statement to investors
@@wynarator The question is did the board had the authority to fire him or was he forced to stepped down by the banks?
Is quite interesting that the banks got so involved in a private business matter.
For them to put such terms then Fanatec must have had some heavy losses on paper that the banks could see.
Anyway the guy seemed to be over his head so a change was needed. Let's hope the new guy is not just some number pusher and knows that you have to have happy clients for the numbers to add up nice and well.
Can we get a followup interview with the now former CEO
yes
This is a classic case of what is called Founders Syndrome.
"Founder’s syndrome occurs when a founder struggles or refuses to ‘change gear’ and adopt a new mindset, approach or skill set as the organization grows and as its strategic context changes. Rather than making way for a new leader to take the organization to the next level, the founder tries to hang on to power. The founder becomes unable to achieve the outcomes associated with effective leadership. The organization then becomes maladapted - inappropriately or poorly adapted to its environment."
I order a CSL DD McLaren Bundle for Black Friday. Was delivered early January.
During the time of awaiting my order customer service was nonexistent and so was tracking. Everyone’s gripes about the situation is valid. With all that being said I love my fanatec.
Try ANYTHING else that's a step up, SIMAGIC, simicube, accuforce, hell EVEN Moza......you'll never look back 😂
@@RichRacin well all that stuff is much more expennsive. i still can't see a competitor for the csl dd. I can't comment on even higher end stuff. Mozas wheelbase is a expensive a fanatec ready2race bundle.
I hear you brother, we all started somewhere.....myself with Logitech lol. All I can say is once you step up and sit down, your first thoughts/feelings will be "I DIDNT KNOW!!!" 🤯
@@Klorel123 Same here, I took the risk cuz i cant spend more then this on a setup right now. I did receive my order before the due date tho so guess I was lucky, I then ordered a boost kit for it etc and that did take a bit longer. I did receive customers supports answer after a few days tho.
He may know the technology but he damn sure doesn’t know anything about running a business.
I was almost one of the people anxiously waiting for my order to ship. When I realized the new quick release system was backordered I went with a different company. I do hope Fanatec is able to learn from all of this and turn it around as competition is always good for the customer.
This is the way Fanatec has always been, so those who are not familiar with their business model. The sell through their stock, then instead of having them be out of stock for long, once they have a time-frame to restock they open up for pre-order/back-order. It is pretty ingenious approach as you end up not having stockpiles of product that doesn't move, and ensures you aren't having to pay the inventory cost of holding onto stock for long periods.
Don't expect this to change, it has been this way for over 10 years.
I'm glad I never got into the fanatec eco system. Thomas comes across as arrogant and patronising. I dont think he really grasps how angry people clearly are for how they feel they have been treated.
Maybe if you’re not good at reading people. He’s a human too you know. He gets a lot of undeserved abuse, and I can tell it takes a tole on him.
Maybe if you’re not good at reading people. He’s a human too you know. He gets a lot of undeserved abuse, and I can tell it takes a tole on him.
Strike me as someone who takes no responsibility for there problems.
weird, I never got asked if I wanted a refund, just silence on their end
Same here. This is a damage control video.
tbh thats up to you to demand. a shipping delay is annoying but thats not a reason to prematurely offer refunds if you are a company.
being open to refund-requests, yes.
I didn't want a refund, just saying that this option was never offered to me like the CEO claims everyone was given@@th3orist
Im still amazed anyone supports Fanatec these last couple years with their never ending issues.
Wouldn’t have done anything different 😂 tone deaf?
Good work and disposition from your side, to everyone involved. I'm not waiting anything from this company, and I can't understand how so many people still trust on this even after see this interview and the lack of compromise of this man. If they survive is just because the fanatism for brands can achieve unbelievable levels on some humans.
Nvidia and Apple know it 😅
@@matttiaz7576 I would say that Nvidia and Apple have some appeal, as they have proprietary technologies and a pretty smooth running ecosystem (for Apple). But Fanatec... They honestly got nothing more that some newcomer Chinese or Danish companies.
This is really really interesting, the Body language which is shown by their ceo is really concerning tbh. I would love to hear what his employees saying to this interview.
probably nothing otherwise they can lose their job
Hubris, ego, and complacency.
Kinda crazy how this dude never really apologized. Instead he had this power smug thing going on.
He absolutely did apologise... 29:12
“From a business point of view, I regret that this happened”. 7:40. Inferring that from a customer point of view it’s too bad. No regrets, no recourse.
TLDNW. Had a really bad, expensive, annoying experience with fanatec. A complete and utter poorly managed 💩 show.
Influencers still using and promoting their products should be ashamed. Ching, Ching... Probably not though eh?
Thank you for the absolute powerhouse of showing us what the PR department does for a company.
Fanatec: I WANT MY FUCKING MONEY BACK! 😡
THIS, I also want my money back.
...and that he wants an A.I to deal with customer complains, just shows how how much he cares about his customers.
People can't do everything 24/7, get on with it
@@deltazero3796 They don't need to do it 24/7. They just need to reply within a timely manner of 24 to 48 hours, just like every other company does. Maybe you learn that when you eventually grow up.
@@deltazero3796for real? You really think fanatec ships tons of item on a daily basis? It's not Amazon, man, wake up. Those are very nieche products and in a relatively small demand.
I just love to see how you will try to return non-working equipment talking to an AI, considering there is no such option in it's 'mind' lol
Yep, because that "AI" thing they have no is working so well. Ha-ha!
Where did he say customer complaints? I heard handling QUESTIONS like “where is my order” which companies have given customer access too for years now. Did you think someone was on the other end of the computer sending a response or working the program for you? God yall wanna complain about everything
So they sacked him. GOOD!
As long as I can remember sim racers have been complaining about waiting for Fanatec gear.There has always been a mismatch between orders customers want to place for delivery and what Fanatec have in stock.
If you place an order for anything,pay up front and wait 3 months you are financing their business Maybe they dont want to borrow heavily to finance adequate stock.
His answers sounded honest but I cant believe they have come this far with such great products and made such fundamental mistakes that do so much damage.I was thinking about upgrading to a Fanatec DD wheel but will definitely shop arounds after this debacle.
Its hilarious to see people whine and complain about parts for what are essentially video games while multiple major industries have been dealing with and doing business like this for decades.
That said I love my fanatec setup and i bought it right in the middle of all the stock and shipping issues…. BUT alot of people are looking at and going the moza route.
I charged back and kept my wheel because of this. Waited over 5 months for my wheel and was ghosted after initial customer service call.
30 minutes and no answer, only silly explanations!
Here is my Fanatec experience :
Ordered Nov 27; pedals, shifter, wheel base, wheel.
I received the shifter and pedals the end of December.
Got two emails, Dec 29 and 30 saying that fanatec had sent me 2 packages.
It is February 4th and the tracking information still only says that a label has been created. I would not recommend that anyone buy fanatec products.
Very similar experience. Ordered wheel, base unit and pedals on 27th November, and they arrived here at home in the UK last Saturday. Previously Fanatec didn't have that much competition but now this market sector is hotting up, and as witnessed in many industries, it is all too easy to lose customers to the new companies, who leapfrog over you, and you never get them back. Fanatec's market share will plummet. There's nothing unique about them anymore so differentiators like customer service become hugely important. Fanatec had better listen and change their processes and attitude fast
You were lucky, I didn't receive any email. One day the order just arrived. No tracking number in my account and if I hadn't picked up the unknown number I wouldn't have even known they were delivering something to me
Same story here.. almost.
No contact at all from fanatec regarding my 2 mails questioning whats happening, "availability date on pre-ordered parts changed twice, took my money on October 27, 2023..
Still no product or contact from them. Over $2000 USD spent.. did I mention they already took my money over 2 months ago and I havnt heard from them at all?
And I didn't even order the plus. Just the 8nm upgrade with the base
These guys are scamming people, they take the orders, even they have no stock. They are scared,shitless that everyone is going to buy other brands. Not very smart, in the Netherlands more and more people are selling their Fanatec stuff just to go to the competition, which is trustworthy and give service in a reasonable time.
I was about to order Gran Turismo DD Pro but after this I think I’ll wait and consider different options.
The Gran Turismo DD Pro isn’t affected. Got mine in 7 days. I live in Texas.
Full bs
i hope they read this. I've been a Fanatec customer for about 15 years now, purchased multiple products from them. My DD1 had an issue 2 months after the end of my warranty. took 2 wks just to get it shipped to them. They made no effort to repair it ( would've been fine with paying for the repairs). They said it can not be repaired, with no explanation. forced my hand to pay $899 for a refurbished one. Less than a month later they had a sale on new ones for that price. I'll never buy another item from them. Shit customer service.
Looks like the end of fanatec
Excellent stuff, Kireth. You gave him a good grilling and you didn't hold back with the questions. I don't think this helped him win back his customers to be honest. The DD+ situation is bizzare! He says the technical tests are all that need to be carried out and approved, like making sure the buttons match the game 🤨 surely that is a 2 minute test at most to click each button and make sure it is doing what it's supposed to! And surely, if you run a 24 hour test of it running continuously on a PlayStation and you have no issues, then that's the technical test done? I can't help but think he is telling us porky pies when it comes to a lot of these vague answers! He thanked you for letting Fanatec voice these answers, but do they not have their own youtube channel 🤔
I use to work at a video game company in the US and we released a game on XBox, PC and PS, so I can validate from my experience that Sony is notorious for creating the biggest red tape to get certification to sell a game compared to XBox and PC. Real example from my time there, we submitted a build of our game weeks before we expected to get the gold release which means those that will be mass produced, and Sony rejected our certification bc of a typo on the paperwork. No big deal right? You think just resubmit the paperwork with it fixed…not so fast bc Sony requires a full recertification each time they reject or fail your application which means they do a full thorough test of the game from start to finish to ensure no major bugs exist and cause the game to crash.
How does this differ to a physical product? I can’t speak to but I can only assume if they are that rigorous with software I can’t imagine the amount of testing they do for physical products to ensure it works in every scenario possible.
Not an excuse for Fanatec bc I’m still waiting on refund for button caps on BF that still has not materialized. There is a reason customer support agents go through specific training on how to handle things bc you can put anyone behind a keyboard but that doesn’t mean they know how to respond and retain customers.
Yeh, I can believe that, too. I hate all that red tape shite!They could have released the Clubsport DD and announced the DD+ as they have dealt with Sony before and surely they know the process is arduous as hell! I suppose there is no point crying over spilled milk. Im gonna just wait it out and not get a refund as the old Csl DD is still workin grand but I can see how people who are waiting on it to complete their setup are so furious over this delay in getting the DD+ @cbdaytona675
@@cbdaytona675 - Yeah, and that 'red tape' is the reason for XBOX constantly failing due to them releasing trash games on their trash systems due to a lack of quality control and corner cutting antics which leads to customers getting scuffed products. Sony has always been known for their quality assurance.
Absurd. Purchased a Clubsport DD+, CSL pedals & wheel for my 9 yr old and me who play GT7 daily, back in October when the DD+ was first offered and delivery date of 12/12. He's still waiting for his Christmas present. Wheels & pedal in a box now for months cause we can't use them of course with our Thrustmaster. And yes, you can call Sony and say "c'mon man", yes you can. In fact that's exactly what you do if you want to stay in business and out of court.
First 10 seconds complete lies
This video last month was a complete smoke show of BS 3/26 nothing has changed , got another email another delay 4 more weeks, yet the web site shows items in stock ships in 4 days more BS more lies!!
My main issue with the response to the DD+ is that they want us to wait but why did they take our money or take the whole amount. It's easy for him to say be patient and we have to wait. Paying 1k for our items with conflicting information is very frustrated and not getting accurate info is bad business practice if not being deceptive. There should have been large print on the top stating this this item is pending Sony approval so that there was no doubt there was something still pending the release. Also, the story about air shipping those items to the warehouses in December should have mentioned that they are still pending which no mention was made. No accurate info, very deceptive practices, and limited responses from Fanatec increases the frustration. This almost sounds to me like he is full of himself and like take it or leave it. He should be sorry for his customers, if they had enough support or did the right thing people would be less frustrated or mad. They have no one to blame but themselves. Don't make your company to be the victim.
Geez just wait
@@bigredracingteam9642 I'm rich, I can frikkin wait for a WHEEEEEL BASE lol. Gah. You Fanatec haters whine more than any other kind of consumer I swear. It's tooooo easy to troll you dorks. You need a loan, pumpkin?
@@Fluffyninja7 Isn't it time for your 5th period math class kiddo?
we selling thing to peeple we dont have like wtf! they are so mutch in bad standing Close your F...... website down to all peeple have there product, and u have sim racing procuct in stock !!!
He regrets it happened, but he knows exactly what they did not stating correct stock levels or delivery dates and just wanted to Secure consumers money
As he said in the video, it makes no sense to do that intentionally, because they make way less money that way.
Thankyou soo much for this Kireth! As i am one of the people with a rig and full ecosystem waiting on a wheel and the DD+ to ship! Cheers!!!
Thank you for this interview, it has helped convince me that I made the right decision by not ordering the Fanatec gear I had in my cart. The interview is full of excuses but the one that bothers me the most is why NO ONE from Fanatec regularly responds with updates to the Blog on Fanatec's own website! Good or bad news any communications would have helped. I really feel bad for all those people who are stuck with no way to contact anyone and no way of getting legit updates on what is going on. This interview is too little too late and Fanatec has burned a lot of customers.
Mine was shipped from warehouse literally next day after ordering and arrived 2 days later (Poland). I still paid with paypal just for peace of mind.
You are smart. There are products better than fanatec.
Kireth your the Super Hero of the sim racing wold !!!!! Sub This Guy!!!!
don't have anythng on order now. But have 3 wheels, csl dd, v3 pedal's w/mod,s and a shifter. Never a problem/ shipping or correspondence. growing pains, patience people. to much instance gratification expected these days.
I am what you call a whale. When I get into a hobby I go all the way. They lost me for life. Once I went through what I did with my ordering in early November I began to research them deeper. You find nothing but bad. Across the board. No other brand delivers broken gear out of the box and then takes months if not a year to replace it with a working unit. Mind boggling. Simagic has me now and I’ll never touch anything fanatec has any involvement with.
Imagine if i was still waiting nearly 3 months like many are. Then after all that time it shows up and doesn’t work. Like many of them are. How can you be making 120 million a year and have this poor of a logistics system and quality.
Very rarely comment, but wanted to applaud you on this interview. Subscribed. A very fair interview that asked all the questions the other "GearTubers" should have been asking too. As a former journalist and now long-time PR consultant, I can absolutely say this is a lesson in how not to give an interview after your company has screwed up. Total absence of good crisis management doctrine by Fanatec throughout and somehow managed to make it all about them - tells you everything you need to know about the culture of arrogance from this company. I'm not buying anything else from this guy....
Thank you, very much appreciated!
I sense some arrogance, but I hope he is being sincere in his answers.
Sadly, they’re still horrible at responding to emails in a timely manner. Why does it takes them over a week at this point in February to respond to a simple email. They’re quick to charge you for something but not for any else.
I've sent over 10 emails since November and have not received one reply or a refund.
I ordered *GranTurismo-DD Extreme, *CSL pedal bundle with load cell on April 2nd, 2024.
Today on April 5th, 2024 the UPS man was at my front door with 3 boxes from Fanatec.
All delivery problem fears for nothing
Great service from Fanatec!!!
It explains nothing more than what we already knew.
With all my respect, regarding the CS DD+, the situation is simple:
Fanatec shouldn’t announce and sell a product that isn’t approved by Sony. Punkt Schluss.
Apparently it is hard to admit it.
Were you listening? Sony approved Fanatec to start selling them. They shouldn’t have done that if they were going to drag their feet for months doing the final certification.
Warranty Question. I am happy to see the question was asked but he failed to address it. I have a ticket opened to get it resolved but no response from support. BTW great interview Kireth
I ordered the DD GT Pro 8nm, Mclaren GT3 V2, CSL Elite Pedals V2, and a QR1 Wheel-Side the day after and received it all within 3 weeks....
Are you using your equipment for Sim PC or PS5 ?
@@blastu2fool Ps5 and Xbox ....
This is what happens when you overextend your business model. Borrowing from Peter to pay Paul. The "charge me now ship it later" approach simply means that the company has no available reserve capital outside of current customer income to actually make new products.
It's no longer "if we build it they will come." Instead it's "if they pay for it we will build it.....later." 🤣
Top interview, Kireth. Not softballing. And good on the ceo for doing this as well.
you are so naive. wake up.
Ordered a podium hub after seeing this interview. Delivery date was March 8. It just changed to April 11. So Thomas was lying when he mentioned that delivery dates on his site were correct. Will cancel the hub and no more Fanatec for me.
👏
Like deployed 👍
That’s what I call content! Good work!
It actually taken Kireth to fly over to Germany for an interview to get any further information on the mess that is Fanatec. Funny how a you tuber gets involved and they then advise of the errors on there x2 internal systems. It’s hilarious his wording chosen to explain what has happened and all they say is sorry. No extra mile going for all the customers affected at all. Just shows that they are not the top of the sim racing community anymore and I won’t be the only one going to another company
Thanks for this video. At least we have a youtuber that really cares for our concerns. This comment is coming from a Fanatec Fan boy. I owned 4 bases and 4 wheels. My reply to this video is simply GREED. No way they should put the CsDd without the full license on sale. Also these issues started before the black Friday so why they created a bigger problem and offered crazy discount ?
If Sony were going to take months to certify the wheelbase, they shouldn’t have approved Fanatec to start selling them.
Thank you for admitting that. I’m new to fanatec from the bf sale and this video really confirms everything I’ve been thinking. This mf doesn’t care cause it was planned
10:23 nah that's not true, I'm a new customer and I ordered my rig with one item saying it will be shipped on April 2nd, and after a week or two it changed to May 13 or smth like that. Also it seems like they are 4 months behind the orders..
The wonderful Thomas, who used to share client email correspondence on the iRacing forums to try and defend himself all that time ago.
well stop advertising everywhere (can't get away from you) and stop showing "in stock" simple
Big respect to you for doing this. Its a shame because I want to upgrade my current setup on xbox and Fanatec is by far the best option to go for, but no way can I drop so much money after the stories I've been hearing over the past few months
Stories? Just commit to it there products are great
To be honest i was hesitant too … i placed my order 26 of jan received it on 31 of jan not to mention it was placed on a weekend … i got dd pro qr2 for the base and wheel side and and csl load cell all received in the same package… i believe everything is back in order now … hope u find this useful.
Ive been buying multiple items from them for the last year and never had any issues.
Now do Trak Racer, lack of answering CS questions and shipping times six months plus.
Waiting for customer support response since mid December because a missing item in the BF delivery of my order. This is ridiculous.
I'm in the same situation. I would sell all my fanatec gear if I got a person to buy the lot and move to another company that puts the customer first.
Dude i would have cancel i have tried to comunicate about 10 time to them they never respond, they just dosent care, if they would want us to cancel they would have to lol
i can confirm that after ordering a gt pro bundle at 12 januari everything was in my home in 1 week
Yeah 2 weeks for me, dd, wheel & elite V2 pedals, qr2 wheel & base .. took about 12 days but they mentioned the transitions in house & the 6-7 day delay so no complaints from me
The problem is tsht only the black Friday orders aren't delivered. The reason is they sold too many very cheap orders. So now they just wait until customers cancel so they don't have to deliver the far too cheap units
This is my first experience with Fanatec, I chose just because of many options of wheels and accessories. I bought the bundle F1 steering wheel 2023, pedals V3, and DD+. I still waiting for DD+ since December/2023, this is terrible, and we just receive automatic message generated by the system, saying that "we still running with the approvals bla bla bla". I hope they can solve this soon for all community.
This isn't something new. I bought a wheelstand from them 10 years ago and it was months before I received it.
Holy crap this explains so much. Such a nonchalant attitude.
This guy is on cruise control mode and resting on his success.
It just filters down from there and you get a half assed effort from everyone.
This is a public company and if I was a major share holder I'd want him stepping down as CEO.
Well you're not 🤦🏾♂️
@@Fluffyninja7 I already said that. Good job Skippy.
@@Alberta_Wolf yay, gold star for me :)
they just pushed back their "preorder" date on their bundles.
Again.
I think it's positive that the CEO takes time to do this interview, with (no offense at all) a "youtuber" and not a "professional reporter". I mean it's rare to see a CEO of such a big company address the community so directly. At the very least, it shows a desire to be a bit transparent. So kudos on not hiding like many other big video-game related companies usually do. And thanks kireth for your dedication to this subject and flying there to meet with Thomas, I thought the title might have been clickbait, but I was pleased to see how wrong I was
I think you could replace 'professional' with 'legacy'. This youtuber comes across plenty professional to me.
It isn't. Honesty etc doesn't fix actual issues.
It’s called Damage limitation. Avoid further brand and reputations damage.
With 76k sim racing specific subscribers I would say this is a better platform than a "professional reporter" would get. The Fanatec CEO is about as tone deaf as it gets, look forward to watching all the other sim companies who put customers first slowly crushing Fanatec into dust.
I would take a "youtuber" over a "professional reporter" any day of the week.
This company is sick, they don't even post issues or delays on their website, instead they mark them as "Pre orders" with an available time frame that is not accurate. This bad business practice is unacceptable. They use other peoples money to keep afloat. This company should be banned from doing business in the US. Terrible communication, customer support and CEO.
Should not actually take customers money or just a deposit like most pre orders
I don’t know what preorders you’re talking about. All the ones I’ve ever seen are for full price up front, not deposits.
@@CasuallyCareening when I have pre ordered anything from Apple they do what’s called an Authorisation hold and don’t take the money until it’s shipped
Some items that are on Amazon also use this same method also
And if I recall correctly when I preordered the psvr2 that was only an authorisation hold too and yes the money was frozen on my bank account but remained in pending until it was shipped
Different companies use different methods however the majority that do take the funds do actually ship on the date they said they would
They initially give everyone a date of preorder and that’s what people expected
This was all before Christmas and many had probably placed these orders for kids at Christmas or even for themselves knowing they would have some downtime from work at Christmas
The whole fanatec issue could of been easier to digest if they had just been more transparent
First it was blamed on shipping and then on licensing
Shipping was never an issue if they never had the licence so was just a wave 1 excuse followed by additional warehousing excuses and then realised they can’t use that excuse anymore so had to announce the licencing issue.
Giving a date on something without a licence is like hitting the self destruct and it poor practice.
They had my money since Black Friday but have now done a chargeback and gone Asetek which so far has been great but I do miss not having the ps compatibility but apparently Asetek will have an upgrade path for this so the future is bright :)
If not I will give the Drivehub a whirl
I would like to add that I feel the quality of the hardware should now also be questioned. Some more recent equipment suffers from very basic and avoidable build quality issues. Not what I would expect from a premium brand. When I next upgrade it will not be Fanatec anymore after being a customer for many years. An example of this would be terrible shaft clamp mechanism design employed on the CSL DD range.
Thank you for doing this interview
lol, corporate spin. Explain how a "sync" issue on BF sales has my order from Nov sitting as processing while the EXACT same product is available and shipped within days for new orders being placed last week?
Its simple, the BF sales did way better than what they thought and as he called out, they're losing money on them so hoping that delaying and not shipping leads to cancellation of orders.
Wow. You can see the guy interviewing him knowing this isn’t gonna go well when this drops and trying to lead the fanatec guy to the right path.
😂