It's FRIED! My brand new $1500 Fanatec Wheelbase broke... after 2 weeks! 

I own the new McLaren wheel, CSL DD and CSL load cell pedals. They feel great and took my new hobby to another level after owning a T300 belt drive (which wasn’t that bad). However the only FANATEC product I own that hasn’t failed is the DD wheel base. Within 4 months the McLaren wheel cracked at the shifter pivot point and where the QR is mounted. Following many delayed emails and being accused of over tightening, they accepted it was caused by a weakness and replaced the back half of the wheel. Soon after it was returned the load cell pedal completely failed. As requested by FANATEC I sent video footage before sending the pedals back. I waited weeks before emailing them to ask when they will be returned. FANATEC claimed they could not fault them and they were sent back. Within minutes I experienced the same issue. Frustrations were building due to the failures experienced compounded by the very long response times by FANATEC when seeking help for new equipment that could not used. However I yet again send an email pleading for a remedy. While waiting for a response an electrical technician overheard what I experienced and offered to inspect. Minutes later the technician confirmed a faulty voltage regulator within the circuit board of the load cell brake pedal. I have been enjoying my sim racing ever since. My only regret is not doing more research before deciding to purchase equipment from FANATEC. Take a look at FANATEC’s own forum to see how many customers are experiencing the same issues. Regardless of the failures experienced I would not have written this if it wasn’t for the very poor customer service / response times. I only hope this gets better soon for FANATEC. At the moment they are making it easy for companies such as MOZA to take over.

Sorry to hear man! Hoping it will be resolved soon. I had some of their earlier belt driven wheels when they were a fairly new company years ago. They were mostly fine but I had to RMA one of the wheels and it was a pain with sending videos etc. They sent a replacement promptly. Recently I went with a Simucube 2 Pro wheel base and absolutely love it! It’s been solid so far.

I am so glad you mentioned their customer support, I've had that problem before and they are the worst when it comes to customer service. I stopped buying from Fanatec because of it.

Hope this gets resolved. I had bad V3 pedals and would have bought the box when i initially contacted them, but the customer service was totally unhelpful. I asked for troubleshooting and sent videos and they offered nothing. When I complained they said the guy i was talking to was one of their best. i said forget it and reminded them they have an easy job selling game controllers and it shouldn't be on the backs of their American customers to make their shareholders quarter. Sharing your experience is really valuable to customers of this stuff because often reviews are done by people who have a vested interest in Fanatec and when they are basically making an ad for Fanactec of course they get a free on that works. Thanks and best of luck.

I had a Fanatec base many years ago, it had an issue and I too only got one or two emails per week, what shocks me is that all these years later nothing has changed regarding support.

I think your thoughts about the opportunity to build the customer relationship based on how the company handles the issue is so true. I have been in the market for a direct drive wheel and been looking heavily at the Fanatec product line. Your experience with Fanatec customer service will certainly inform that decision and likely push me elsewhere. I might check out the new Logitech G PRO.

I had similar issues with my csl dd. I found the shaft had moved slightly forward. Release the yoke and the shaft will shift around a mm inwards. Tighten the yoke and switch back on. Fixed mine hope it helps!

I'm having similar issues. I got the DD1 with F1 wheel and got the Fanatec Podium Wheel V3i Peddals, Shifter and Handbrake. Getting Drives updated was a pain. The Fanatec Podium Wheel still doesn't work. I'm still going back and forth with customer support and haven't shipped it out yet. I'm like you, it broke whatever overnight a working product and a return label for the broken hardware. But nooo. Purchased Nov 22 and still don't have a working product. I wanted to spin my upcoming vacation time enjoying my new complete sim rig something that I've saved up for 2 years. I didn't even get 2 weeks. Dead on arrival. I'm in Florida so I guess it will be February before I have a working product.

Hi, so sorry to hear about your experience with Fanatec. May i asked u how does the NLR sim rig hold up with the wheel base? Any flex?

I got my DD1 clubsport RS wheel and V3 padel 22th september, installed it worked for one race and stoped working. after 4 days of trying i am sending it back to them. No customer response about how to fix the issue.

I thought i was the only one who got a bad wheel. I bought my dd2 two weeks ago and it bricked during the 24hr of spa. what made it worse was my team was running 1st for the 1st half of the race, until my wheel kept messing up over and over. I really want to do something about this, there customer service doesn't feel like 58mil EUR company that owns them. Keeps us updated on the outcome of it all.

I feel super bad for you and I hear your pain. I currently have the F1 DD1 package coming my way with V3 pedals and actually the same chassis your running. You shouldn't have to make a video to try and get them to try harder for customer service. For all of you who say just buy something else, Fanatec is branded as a global sim racing company and have race series based on their equipment. They are also the only one that is Console compatible without using usb work around hubs. They are a great product and I hope there customer service improves if I ever have to use it. Wishing you all the best and would love a followup if you have any further info.

This is what happens when a company pays more attention for promotion than quality, and people still buy it.

They should send you a new replacement, but they probably didn't. This video is about a month old, did they get you back up and running?

I think I've got the same problem. I'm awaiting an rma at the moment. I've had it for @2 years now but it's still a huge let down to have to go through the shipping processes.

Sucks when it's you, but these things are quite rare. good to see it get sorted. When's the iRacing content coming my guy?

I had this exact same error about a year ago.....Did they resolve this for you? I have been lucky as thier customer support was good with me.. Had to replace a DD2 Wheel Base that was under warranty and they gave me no trouble and were timely... Hope you got it sorted out!

This makes me have second thoughts on the DD2.

please update, is the replacement still working?

Did this happen during a firmware upgrade?

Hi there, I am dealing with the exact same issue with my 3month old dd2. Just curious, when they send back your stuff, did they send the hub and the dd1 together or separately? Thanks

Wow and i was thinking of buying that model.

Man that blows. Hope they do right by you. I don’t know what that thing costs but give them a chance to make it right. I’m sure there’s a refund policy in place if that happens again.

Well one year later they still doing the same customer service... got a defective base 6 months ago and they just seems to don't care... respond 1 email per week and refuse to replace or refund... very frustrating... just want to move to another brand

I had to send mine in or repair not long ago. I hate the fact that you can't talk with them and their email system really sucks as they will get back to you weekly. Fanatec is good though on repairing and getting your hardware back to you (took a week to get it back) but it takes a while to get to the RMA stage to get your product to them.

Good video damn fanatec yes im so agree whit you they should care us much more than they do...allready scare to order new base from fanatec..my wheel just arrived it takes only 1 month hahaha

I have exact the same issue for the second time!! Their support is horribele 😡😡 Totally not customer-friendly! So i advice everybody; do not buy any Fanatec products. What did they fix on your steering wheel? Main PCBA?

I’m never touching anything Fanatec branded again, I’ve learnt my lesson. They got super poor QA

buggy kill switch?

Gabe, this sucks, I know exactly how you feel!

damnnnn bro, this got worked out right?

Why does everybody hate Fanatec, yes, they were slow delivering my bundle in thanksgiving but after I have made 2 more orders, and everything has worked fine. Maybe i've been lucky, but the hate has to stop. There is no such thing as urgency, we as a society have become to impatient, we want everything for yesterday, things dont work that way. Im waiting on my 6sigma cockpit, its been 3 weeks, thats life. Exposing only creates more drama and hate.

😲Well that's Fanatec for you they have had more people sending there stuff back than they are selling😀+now the company has internal problems, so if I was you I'd be asking for my money back and changing systems like Moza or sim magic they have a much better machinery and much better customer service, all the best with it dude👍🙂🚗

Trilled by your history, dude , this thing happens all the time and they will repair it. No worries

I guess at least it’s covered under warranty. Only because it’s the law.

hello moza racing:)

Moza quazo and joza is not any better. Everybody has a problem with every product out there in the world it just matters what the company does about it is all that really matters. If they fix the issue great, if your treated bad or unfair well this is where we must stand strong against these places because this Sim gear is getting out of control with pricing these companies will live or die on how they treat us. Sorry for you man and how u felt basically on your own that had to mske u rage

Super sad for you- 😥😥😥

Well at least they appear to be treating us all the same. Obviously still not good but...🤐

I've read for a long time that Fanatec customer service is crap. I'm looking for a DD wheel base, wheel, pedals and shifter later this year but I just don't want to buy from them due to the lack of any kind of decent customer service. Sorry it's happening to you. One thing you said at the end about them maybe sending you a refurbished unit or trying to repair the original one. I don't think you have had that wheel base for long. They need to send you a new one. You spent a lot of money, you expect new and working, not repaired or refurbished.

The board are fried,do troubleshoot everything not gonna help

they only are slow for us americans for ppl in europe they are alot more responsive

Welcome to fanatec . Rma after rma. Terrible products

good luck. fanatec has the worst tech support

Get your money back and buy simucube 2 pro and you will be happy

Why so dramatic? Just get it RMA'd...

15 mins of work for me. Than your same error occurred.