Bad support

[Bompin]

This will be a post where I moan about horrible EU support (I am sure they will know who I am after reading this).

I tried VKG Gladiator sticks at my friend's house and I really liked how they feel so I decided to order them. I have placed my order back in August and have received the sticks fairly quickly.
When I opened the boxes I found few issues on the sticks (buttons getting stuck when pressed and scratches mostly) so I reached out to support to see what can be done and I was told that both refund and replacement are possible.
Since I liked the sticks at my friend's house, I decided to go for a replacement since I understand that issues like this can happen. It was confirmed by the support that sticks will be replaced with new ones and that a return delivery fee will be refunded to my paypal account. Sounded great so I sent the sticks back and thought that was it, I would get good sticks and could finally enjoy some sims a bit more than when I use the keyboard.

Several weeks after sending my sticks back, the support decided to refund both sticks but not the return delivery fee. Here the rough journey starts. I have updated one open ticket asking why wasn't a return delivery refunded and why were the sticks refunded instead of replaced in the first place. I have sent several emails to the support but I couldn't get an answer for over a month so I decided to log another ticket to which the support finally responded; however, It wasn't a good response. EU support said that they cannot refund the return delivery fee but that they can offer a discount if I order the new sticks, completely ignoring their previous confirmation that the return delivery fee will be refunded to paypal. After having the return messed up and after being ghosted for over a month I decided that I was done, that I just want the costs refunded and be done with it. Even though I like the product I just don't want to deal with this support ever again.

I have tried talking to the support several times, I have sent them screenshots of their own emails where they agreed to refund the return delivery; however, they went back on their words and refuse to do it.

Return delivery fee was around 1/3 of one Gladiator stick so it's not a small amount.

I did not mention anyone's names or posted screenshots of the emails and of the entire timeline since I am not sure if that is allowed.

So yes, please beware of the support as it's definitely not a positive experience unfortunately.

[fallout9]

EU support said that they cannot refund the return delivery fee but that they can offer a discount if I order the new sticks

If the discount was the same as the cost of the return then I don't understand why you didn't went for it.

[Bompin]

Because of the entire disaster where I had to chase EU support for over a month to get any kind of response. As a customer, do I really need to update several tickets, send several emails over a month and then create a new support ticket just to get a simple answer and a solution? I am not going to chance it in case something else happens in the future and I have to go through support again.

Also, agreement was that it would be refunded to my paypal account (EU support told me this before I even sent the joysticks back). So yes, dealing with the company where EU support messed up everything that was agreed during return of a product is enough to deter me.

Again, I know that VKB products are in general of extremely high quality and some issues happen (I am also aware that the technical support on the forum is good). This is not about me not having any trust into the product itself. It's about me having absolutely no trust in the EU support and that is what influenced my decision not go ahead with another purchase.

To sum it up: poor response times and VKB EU not honoring written agreements is a big red flag for me.

EDIT: If the EU support said that they will refund the return delivery
via paypal then why didn't they honor what they said?

[fallout9]

Can't do anything else other than apologizing for the whole situation, if it helps. Unfortunately we're losing you as a client and you'll miss the opportunity to use the best money could buy. No winner here

[Bompin]

Yes, it's unfortunate that something like this still happens.

I am looking to report this to the European Consumer Centre. Can someone advise if this report would go against VKB FSC Europe or?

[AeroGator]

Yes, it's unfortunate that something like this still happens

It is, indeed.
I will make sure this question reaches the highest ears in the company.
Whatever you decide after all is up to you but we will do what we can to solve this particular case.

[Bompin]

Thank you. I'd prefer to sort this out without having to escalate but EU Support won't budge so here I am, looking for more info so I can forward it to ECCI.

[AeroGator]

Thank you. I'd prefer to sort this out without having to escalate but EU Support won't budge so here I am, looking for more info so I can forward it to ECCI.

I don't see this situation in categories like "budge" (or any sort of power struggle), and wouldn't get engaged in a conversation in such terms.
Your information has been delivered to the top level.
I believe it will be properly addressed, and solved pretty soon.
Let's see.

[Bompin]

Not sure I mention a power struggle anywhere (it was a description of a situation up to now); however, I understand that maybe due to legal reasons you cannot entertain such discussion so I won't use that word since my plan is not to put anyone in the bad spot, but to sort out this situation or gather required information.

As I said in previous emails. I'd prefer to sort this out with the support where they honor what they said in the email and I appreciate you sending the information to the top as it's still unreal for me that the support doesn't want to honor what they wrote in the email.

Thanks again. Looking forward to a positive outcome.

[Bompin]

Just wanted to post an update and let everyone know that this has been resolved (I have received a refund for the return delivery fee).

Thank you AeroGator for sending this to the top level, I appreciate it.