Hardware & Technical SimWare Simulations & Aerosoft Stole My Money

[Alextended]

SimWare Simulations & Aerosoft Stole My Money - Update: Finally Got Most Back

Long story short, after serious communication issues with actually ordering and paying for a far from cheap but according to most worthwhile CH Fighterstick and CH Pro Throttle combo from SimWare Simulations I ended up receiving clearly faulty products with usability issues and wobbly, shifting parts where they should be solid.

I then asked for instructions on what to do and they suggested shipping it back for inspection and replacement. On March 19th they finally confirmed receiving the products. Previously I had to contact Aerosoft which I found had bought this company some time ago just to get them to update me on the status of my order but after that last e-mail I was hopeful for a quick resolution.

It's now the 27th of April and nothing has happened. My e-mails are ignored by both companies and I've received no new shipments or even instructions on how to get a refund for the return shipping cost that they promise on their website (up to a point at least, sadly I paid even more) and that I've repeatedly asked for alongside all the other requests anyone would have given the situation.

I also tried to get the issue sorted via PayPal a while ago when I realised they're once again ignoring me but by then I had exceeded the 45 day period allowed for such a request, simply because I was nice enough to try and resolve the issue directly with the seller rather than instantly report them with whatever consequences that would have for them, alongside a guaranteed refund for me by PayPal.

By now it's also probably past my bank's allowed period to cancel a payment (I didn't know this is possible).

If anyone has any advice given this situation (ordering from abroad but all within the EU) I'm all ears. Either way, I'd obviously advice anyone to avoid buying from both companies even if their prices at times seem better than other retailers. Here's the final attempt to re-forward the e-mails and request to all the relevant addresses I know of, but obviously nothing is likely to happen.

I would have posted here earlier since I previously recommended the store based on their pricing and initially receiving a product but I've been way too busy and tired due to a new job position I had to take on and excited by a new love interest. Hopefully neither will crash and burn.

Edit: I updated the image with the latest of my attempts to contact them, I tend to do that once in a while after some special offer e-mail I get from SimWare reminds me of how they stole my money...

 

[Cmdr Andy B]

do try your bank anyway, especially if your paypal account is set up to take the money by direct debit as you will be protected under the DD guarantee scheme, i had a similar issue a while back where paypal refused me a refund but my bank credited the money back to my account within minutes of phoning them.

 

[PacalB]

I'm sure this is just a mis-communication thing going on here, I've bought products and FSX stuff of them a number of times with no issues. Have you tried actually calling them? A lot of the time that can lead to better results. I'd suggest you give it a try. I doubt they are "stealing" your money, it's not in their interests to get a rep like that from their customers. Just call them and ask to speak to a manager (one that hopefully speaks English).

http://www.simw.com/contactus/

 

[Alextended]

I've been way too busy with work to check up on this place but all that happened since in regards to this matter is this:

"On Tue, Jul 29, 2014 at 7:08 PM, Info - SimWare Simulations <info@simw.com> wrote:

Dear Sir,

I am out of the country now and be back on August the 13.
I will look at this immediately upon my return.

It seems there must be some lost messages somewhere.

Best regards,

Cedric Mattys
info@simw.com - SimWare Simulations"

I've got nothing since then, maybe he meant August the 13th 2015... He even used the same general info@ whatever address to contact me so I can't even try to get in touch with him directly.

So yeah, 231,90 EUR + like ~50 EUR paid to ship the faulty hardware back (I had my sister do it while I was at work and she used the more expensive option without consulting me, they are supposed to refund up to 20 EUR for shipping or something iirc) down the drain. Not counting the cost of software which without this hardware I won't be able to use as I intended, if at all, and wouldn't have purchased if I expected this to happen. FML.

 

[Enride]

This is low…
Im sorry for you man, its awful how some companies crap all over their customers and get away with it

I hope you get a resolution to this sooner or later, even though the damage is already.

I, for one, would never deal this company after reading your story.

 

[Toumal]

Sadly, the whole commercial scene surrounding flightsims is rather... peculiar. There's a lot of overpriced crap being sold, addons are generated with minimum effort, or even just reselling noncommercial fan-made content. Similarly, I've seen old joysticks rebadged and resold as the new hot thing for twice the release price when they were new, I've seen such companies trying to sell a version of FlightGear (which is free and open source) with the title and credits scrubbed off... and most of the addons they sell are for FS-X, which is to flight simulation what SC is to space simulations - oh sorry, I meant "sim" because that's something different

I'm not saying SimWare did all this, but they do sell FS-X for over 30 Euros, a software that's both outdated and unsupported, and worth about half that new in box. And it's advertised on the frontpage, while you have to dig for X-Plane.

All this combined doesn't make them look like a good place to shop. But there's many shops like this one, and somehow they are still able to find customers.

 

[Alextended]

Well I looked into them before purchasing and they seemed reputable in various simulator communities so I gave them a shot because buying there was cheaper than ordering the same parts from the likes of Amazon UK at the time. What you mention about featured products is probably simply because FSX is still very very popular given its scope and relative pricing while others aren't so much. I thought the worst I'd get into was delays, not outright theft of my money. It's probably not even intentional but a side effect of horrible, horrible service and communication, since they did initially ship the hardware.

Edit: I also just used the re-order function to place another order of the same items in case this gets them to look at my history with them or something. Obviously I won't pay this time...

 

[Alextended]

They finally worked something out with me. After managing to get contact going around the end of October they claimed that they tested the products thoroughly twice and found no issues. I could almost accept the HAT switches being an issue of my use rather than the hardware but there was a glaring flaw on the throttle where a part that should be solidly in place was moving around during use. Since they weren't willing to provide replacement units and instead just send back the same I opted for a refund. Which means i got a refund for what I originally paid for, 231,90. Apparently "for commercial reasons" they didn't subtract the original shipping costs from the amount I paid for in order to return just the product value so I should be grateful I guess and not ask for the return shipping refund on top of that. Oh well. I feel for the guy who will receive those clearly flawed units after me and go through the same ordeal just to get his money or a different set. So yeah I guess the lesson is to keep trying to get your money even if the situation seems hopeless since I could have easily given up after all these months. Now to see what HOTAS I can get locally or from the likes of Amazon to avoid this .