I guess this will be the starting
of my very first note-to-self post. If I happened to found anything relevant to
my interests, I'll write about it on here.
Note to self #1: Avoid getting
Thrustmaster T500RS Racing Wheel.
Reason(s): Bad feedback/reviews
regarding Thrustmaster T500RS Racing Wheel on Amazon website.
Quoted from one of the reviewer on Amazon page:
I bought the T500 rs in march of
2011. Three months later the cooling fan started to sound like it was going to
break off. I emailed thrustmaster customer support as my 30 day return period
from amazon was over. They took two days to respond and started by asking me
for a video in which they could hear the abrasive sound. I did so immediately.
Customer service is located in France so they took another 24 hours to respond.
When they did so, they started asking me questions which I felt were designed
to incriminate me regarding foul use of the wheel. This process took several
days, they then asked me for proof of purchase, to which I replied with the
invoice from amazon. They then told me that they could not open the attachment.
I had to resend it. This of course took another 24 hours of what was now
starting to become a tediously long and cumbersome process. After this they
told me that the unit would have to be mailed by me to France. They would not
pay for shipping. This of course is not the way returns should be handled by a
corporation doing business in the U.S. I was not about to spend hundreds of
dollars on shipping a faulty unit I had just bought for $600.00 dollars. I
politely asked them to please send me a new fan so I could perform the repair
myself. They took a couple of days to respond, and when they finally did, they
asked for my telephone number. I gave it to them that very day. A couple of
days later, I get a call from a woman in France. She proceeds to question me
again about the use I have been giving the wheel. She asks me if I am forcing
the wheel in any way from side to side during start up. She then asks me if I
have the wheel set up to a Dell computer. She starts to give me explanations as
to why the user needs to first hook up the wheel to a Dell computer, and only a
Dell computer. I told her that I only use the wheel on my ps3, and that the
wheel's manual clearly states that it is designed to be plug and play with this
console. She asks me to update the firmware with a Dell computer. As if a
software update would fix a faulty fan. Fortunately I have a dell computer, so
I did what she asked and sent her a picture of my dell computer next to my
wheel. Two weeks later part of the wheel's casing containing another soon to
fail fan arrived at my house with complex instruction on how to open the wheel
and perform the replacement procedure.
I hoped that this would be the last
time I had to deal with this company and its employees, but I would not be so
lucky. A couple of days ago a spring in the gas pedal broke. This left the pedal
limp and unresponsive. I replied to their last email asking for a new spring. I
waited for four days, no response from customer support. I decided to go on
their website and email them from there. I then get a response from an
automated service with a case number. Immediately I send them a video showing
the damaged pedal, proof of purchase and my information. I get a reply two days
later from a customer rep who asks me to email him the version number of my
wheel. Another cockamamie question designed to delay the process. I email a
reply as soon as I get home and are able to look under the wheel to check the
version number. Here I ask the rep if it is possible to receive an extra spring
and a plastic gear in case this happens again to another of the pedals. To
which I promptly get a negative response. It's incredible that I get such a
fast response refusing to send me a couple of parts which together are probably
worth less than a dollar. But somehow I am not surprised. I also get an email
from a different customer rep asking me for my address and proof of purchase. I
email them, for the third time, a copy of my amazon invoice. Two weeks later
and still no spring.
If you want to spend $600 dollars
on a wheel which will eventually malfunction, look no further. Having been
given permission by thrustmaster to disassemble the wheel I can tell you that
the parts used to manufacture such a product will fail. It is only a matter of
time. The motor is of good quality and so are the sensors, but mechanically
moving parts are of poor quality. The steering column is made of plastic, that
when updated with the F1 rim shredded a bit. The hex screws are made of very
poor quality metal and are prone to rounding. The case housing the internal
components of the wheel is overly large and is prone to overheating due to a
proper lack of ventilation. The score of 1 star regarding how much fun is this
wheel, is due to the employees of thrustmaster who have created a corporate
climate of blaming the end customer for their company's shoddy workmanship.
They have become very adept at evading the responsibility of the warranty
claims they make when selling their overpriced equipment. If you want to be
treated disrespectfully, with disdain and even contempt for purchasing an
overpriced toy which will only give you headaches; please do what I did and buy
Thrustmaster.
It seems like others were not satisfied with the quality of the product too.
Honorable mention:
FANATEC®
That's all for now. I might revise this post in the future.
