I was one of the winners last night (in fact or unit 1) of the first lot that were auctioned before it was reset and restarted last night - it went for significantly higher RRP (the Auction add clearly stated all would go for significantly below RRP).
The issue with the first lot of auctions caused there to be a delay between the price you saw and when your bid registered due to the volume of clicks, and it wasnt auto stopping the auctions at RRP as it was supposed to. one wheel went for nearly $1000 above rrp, that's 100 bids more than when the auction should have auto stopped.
I mentioned this on the Fanatec facebook page assuming Fanatec would do something to fix this (given about 12 of the first lot went for above RRP so their was clearly an issue) - and was told to contact the webshop.
So i did, this is their exact response to me, a winning bidder that won at much higher than RRP against the conditions they themselves set:
"thank you for your message
This was an auction, every one can place a bid, as hight as he wants. The highest bid win.
We can cancel this order, you are welcome to buy the base in our online store.
Thank you for understanding"
I have been a long term customer and never been to upset by the multiple returns required to keep my multiple wheels going over the years as ultimately the products fit the niche i want. But i must admit i was surprised by this response - really does reinforce a bit for me the increasingly poor customer service reputation the company is getting.
If we do the math for the second auction last night (we can ignore the first auction last night before it was restarted as most of those wheels went for well above RRP), we see that 10 weeks went for less than $1500, and a total of 17 went all up the we can estimate the whole exersise of the Auction has "cost" Fanatec no more than $2000, not much more than the price of giving away one wheel.
This is not really a "fantastic auction opportunity" and certainly would test the boundaries of false and misleading advertising. I know they don't need to do anything, and in my view as a loser in this that would have been a better idea.
So my response will be to walk away from Fanatec as a customer. Well done Fanatec, your bid bots worked too well!
So Other markets of the world - don't get excited by the auctions when it comes to you, you are in for a big disappointment.
The issue with the first lot of auctions caused there to be a delay between the price you saw and when your bid registered due to the volume of clicks, and it wasnt auto stopping the auctions at RRP as it was supposed to. one wheel went for nearly $1000 above rrp, that's 100 bids more than when the auction should have auto stopped.
I mentioned this on the Fanatec facebook page assuming Fanatec would do something to fix this (given about 12 of the first lot went for above RRP so their was clearly an issue) - and was told to contact the webshop.
So i did, this is their exact response to me, a winning bidder that won at much higher than RRP against the conditions they themselves set:
"thank you for your message
This was an auction, every one can place a bid, as hight as he wants. The highest bid win.
We can cancel this order, you are welcome to buy the base in our online store.
Thank you for understanding"
I have been a long term customer and never been to upset by the multiple returns required to keep my multiple wheels going over the years as ultimately the products fit the niche i want. But i must admit i was surprised by this response - really does reinforce a bit for me the increasingly poor customer service reputation the company is getting.
If we do the math for the second auction last night (we can ignore the first auction last night before it was restarted as most of those wheels went for well above RRP), we see that 10 weeks went for less than $1500, and a total of 17 went all up the we can estimate the whole exersise of the Auction has "cost" Fanatec no more than $2000, not much more than the price of giving away one wheel.
This is not really a "fantastic auction opportunity" and certainly would test the boundaries of false and misleading advertising. I know they don't need to do anything, and in my view as a loser in this that would have been a better idea.
So my response will be to walk away from Fanatec as a customer. Well done Fanatec, your bid bots worked too well!
So Other markets of the world - don't get excited by the auctions when it comes to you, you are in for a big disappointment.
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