Fanatec DD systems delayed till the end of April

Very sad... I was just getting excited for the last few days


Dear valued customer,

Thank you for pre-ordering our new Podium Wheel Base, I can imagine how much you’re looking forward to receiving it. We’ve been working tirelessly to optimise and improve long term reliability, implementing many changes during the development phase. Until recently, it was looking very good that we could fulfill our estimated availability date in early December, but in final testing we discovered a serious issue which affects about 0.07% of the units produced so far.

We discussed if this really justifies a delay, but I made the painful decision to stop delivery. This product must be nothing less than flawless! In electronics design there’s always a chance that something can be missed, but if we are already aware of an issue, we cannot ship the unit. Not our flagship.

The problem requires thorough analysis, and we need to determine if we can rework the electronics of the units which were already produced or need to make new electronics. It is therefore important to adjust our realistic shipping date to the end of April. If we can begin shipments earlier, then we will do so, of course.

I’m sure you are just as disappointed as we are, but we want to keep you happy, and we want you to stay with us. Of course you are free to cancel your order now, but if you are willing to wait, we are offering a special gift as a gesture of appreciation.

All customers who pre-ordered the Podium Wheel Base DD1 or DD2 will receive a free steering wheel. It will be the new ClubSport Steering Wheel F1 2019 which is due to be released in May next year. It is very similar to the F1 2018 version we just released, but comes in a special and exciting new colour scheme. It is also a limited edition product, with a value of 349,95€/$, 519.90AU$ or 44,900YEN!

Rest assured that the Podium Series Wheel Bases will be well worth the wait.

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

All the best,

Thomas

 

What are you going to do? Cancel your order or get a free wheel?

A near 6 month delay man, that's bad

 

I'd hang in there and get a better product in the end. Plus a free wheel is nice!

 

Fair play mate. I’m not sure what I’d do. If the 0.07% failure rate is true, it must be a pretty catastrophic failure for them to delay by such a long period of time at such short notice - as in serious risk of personal injury.

I feel there’s more to this than meets the eye. Hope they can get on top of it though as a truly plug and play DD wheel is an attractive product.


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Just to add - offering a 350 dollar wheel for free for a product with a 0.07% failure rate in “final testing” just doesn’t stack up.


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Glad I’ve waited as was tempted to preorder....I think you are right about it being a catastrophic fault. Not surprised about the free wheel though. Customer loyalty is key to the fanatec business model, my guess is a high proportion of pre-orders are existing fanatec customers and they can’t afford to lose these....you can’t sell a mega bucks podium rim to someone who doesn’t have a Fanatec wheel base!

 

Personal data breach is more serious than last minute delay.
https://www.racedepartment.com/thre...ntil-30-4-for-pre-orders.162226/#post-2873861

Fanatec was delaying new products before, actually like all the times, but $350 wheel to cover this up does sound a bit unusual.

 

Yeah that was a real slip up. Germany’s GDPR legislation is very stringent. The senior management and CEO need to step up. It’s rank amateur all this.


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Interesting that they never offered a choice between a free 5 year warranty and a wheel for the DD1 preorders if they are so confident “it’s going to be worth waiting for” as everything is pointing towards serious production issues at the moment. 5 month delay for a 0.07% product line failure 3 days before release after taking pre order money?

Doesn’t look good.


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The web site blog says o.7% of units were affected, that’s quite a difference from o.o7% in the email sent to the OP!

Ps I feel bad for those who had one ordered, I’d be gutted

 

Certainly is. What a mess.


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And the data breach? They could be fined 4 or 5% of total company turnover for a GDPR breach....I’d get sacked in my company if I’d made an error like that!

I love my fanatec gear....hope they sort it out quick and can repair the PR damage.

 

It's quite unbelievable all these hundreds of emails that I'm going through.
From my prespective these DD systems should have been a game changer for Fanatec. Over the last couple of years Sim community has been introduced with e.g. Heusinkveld pedals and OSW systems. They must have felt that community is turning away or not comming back to their plasticy chinese stuff for hundreds of euros. DD systems on the other hand must have been a proof for the top level simracers that they are still in game and continues to be the flagman for sim racing but it will be hard after so many mistakes...

 

A better product in the end? It's not like people specifically pre-ordered the bad product, and Fanatec, through their grace, decided to upgrade them to the better model...LOL. People pre-ordered expecting the best product to ship on 12/7. Fanatec isn't delaying to get people a better product. That's marketing speak. They are simply delaying. The best product possible was always the customer's expectation.

 

Looks like some people will be without a wheel for a while....am guessing a lot will have sold their old wheel base to get the most value before the second hand market gets flooded with CSW . The holiday period is the worst time not to have a wheel.

 

Oh man I am really really happy that I made my decision for the OSW system.