ACT Labs force RS: HOW DO YOU BUY THEM!!?!??!??

>looked like a server error. So I phone them, push 1 for sales, I get a message >that says, "I'm away from my desk right now but please leave a message and I'll >get back to you" followed by a message that says "there is no more room for >messages in this mailbox". Here is what I know. 1) They are going to ship the first shipment starting on Wednesday 11/4/1998. They were supposed to ship last week but they did not have the cartons until this week. 2) I ordered mine 2 weeks ago, and think I am in the first shipment. At the time I was told that the stores would not have them until several shipments went out the door. This could possibly mean after Xmas, so I preordered mine. With a 30 day money back garrantee I have nothing to lose. 3) The full voice mail is because the owner of that mail box was at a trade show on Monday. If you were to call tomorrow, you should get through. 4) Also as a last resort definately contact the Actlab operator. She had all this cool info I am giving. 5) I can evpect my Force RS in the middle of next week :-) Keep trying. I am 100% sure this one is a winner. -- Header address intentionally scrambled to ward off the spamming hordes. cisko [AT] ix [DOT] netcom [DOT] com

I've been trying the same thing. I called just minutes after they had closed for the day, though. If they really are available, you would think they could be found SOMEWHERE in retail, or on the web!!!!!! -- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Remove "spam-jammer" to reply Peace, love and Monkeemobiles, Galley >I've been to a dozen or more computer stores, nobody has ever heard of them. >Piles and piles of MS wheels, Mad katz, V3, CH etc, no ACT labs. >So I thought, okay, I'll just use their online store and wait a few days. MSIE >won't even load the online store page, >https://www.actlab.com/ecommerce/index.htm , I can get a lot farther with >Navigator but I got an error at the end saying that a database was locked, it >looked like a server error. So I phone them, push 1 for sales, I get a message >that says, "I'm away from my desk right now but please leave a message and I'll >get back to you" followed by a message that says "there is no more room for >messages in this mailbox". >I've done everything I can. I'll try the number again but jeez, how do >companies survive when you have to go through hell and back to just to give >them money. It's incredible. I'm still trying. >Does anyone actually own an ACT Labs wheel or seen one in a store? What do you >have to do? I want the force feedback wheel. >glen

I'll tell you what you do. You place an order from their sales line about a month ago for their RS wheel (non FF) and then wait patiently while the thing never arrives. Then you call their sales line solid for a week and get nothing but FULL voice mailboxes! These guys are a joke. I'm still waiting for them to get back on the whereabouts of my wheel. All they know is that it shipped about three weeks ago. Where it is, no-one seems to know.... Jason

Whoa, that doesn't sound very promising. If there's one thing that will turn me off a company quicker than anything, it's poor customer service. Hopefully those guys will get it together. -- Don Burnette Palmetto Racing Dburn on Ten AOLL Iroc Administrator >I'll tell you what you do. You place an order from their sales line >about a month ago for their RS wheel (non FF) and then wait patiently >while the thing never arrives. Then you call their sales line solid >for a week and get nothing but FULL voice mailboxes! >These guys are a joke. I'm still waiting for them to get back on the >whereabouts of my wheel. All they know is that it shipped about three >weeks ago. Where it is, no-one seems to know.... >Jason

> Does anyone actually own an ACT Labs wheel or seen one in a store? What do you > have to do? I want the force feedback wheel. I've seen and tried a non-FF one here in Helsinki. -- Anssi Lehtinen

Well the babe on the phone told me there would be a tracking number when mine ships. So I am not sure why you don't also have a tracking number. Try the Actlab operator. -- Header address intentionally scrambled to ward off the spamming hordes. cisko [AT] ix [DOT] netcom [DOT] com >>Does anyone actually own an ACT Labs wheel or seen one in a store? What do you >>have to do? I want the force feedback wheel. >I'll tell you what you do. You place an order from their sales line >about a month ago for their RS wheel (non FF) and then wait patiently >while the thing never arrives. Then you call their sales line solid >for a week and get nothing but FULL voice mailboxes! >These guys are a joke. I'm still waiting for them to get back on the >whereabouts of my wheel. All they know is that it shipped about three >weeks ago. Where it is, no-one seems to know.... >Jason

Can anyone beat THIS?! I ordered my Force RS in May! MAY!! And still I wait. But I am expecting an e-mail soon telling me when to expect it, so hope survives!! >Well the babe on the phone told me there would be a tracking number >when mine ships. So I am not sure why you don't also have a tracking >number. Try the Actlab operator. >-- >Header address intentionally scrambled to ward off the spamming hordes.

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> Can anyone beat THIS?! I ordered my Force RS in May! MAY!! And still I wait. > But I am expecting an e-mail soon telling me when to expect it, so hope > survives!! > >Well the babe on the phone told me there would be a tracking number > >when mine ships. So I am not sure why you don't also have a tracking > >number. Try the Actlab operator.

How about this I ordered in june... okay still no good enough... mmm... Well, I waited and called about every week and a half and every time being told "oh, they're shipping next week...". I called a week ago, checked for my order "Whats your name again? nope sorry, nothing here under that name!" Oh, I was to say the least, pissed. They lost my order after 3 months of waiting and to top it all off Brian (the sales guy) told me he'd call me and tell me if he found it but it seemed that closing time came (5:30... don't work to hard guys) and he left me hangn' over the weekend and then proceeded to... well forget about me enitrely. Hmmmm... I agree their customer service sucks. You call and the message you ALWAYS get is "Sorry, I'm away from my desk right now... blah blah blah" I mean I can understand if the guy goes to the john or has to eat or something but to call for 3 hours for a week and NEVER get the guy in is a little strange, I mean how long can you take a dump for? Anyway, I had to re-pre-order and now it looks like I'm gonna have to wait even more since I doubt I'll make the first shipment... However, the bottom line is that all the reviews are saying this is a great product and I'd rather be a little frustrated with customer service than out $200 bucks with a crappy product... Anyway, how's that? Worse than your's? -YUBS

>How about this I ordered in june... okay still no good enough... mmm... Well, I >waited and called about every week and a half and every time being told "oh, >they're shipping next week...". I called a week ago, checked for my order "Whats >your name again? nope sorry, nothing here under that name!" Oh, I was to say the >least, pissed. They lost my order after 3 months of waiting and to top it all >off Brian (the sales guy) told me he'd call me and tell me if he found it but it >seemed that closing time came (5:30... don't work to hard guys) and he left me >hangn' over the weekend and then proceeded to... well forget about me enitrely. >Hmmmm... I agree their customer service sucks. You call and the message you >ALWAYS get is "Sorry, I'm away from my desk right now... blah blah blah" I mean >I can understand if the guy goes to the john or has to eat or something but to >call for 3 hours for a week and NEVER get the guy in is a little strange, I mean >how long can you take a dump for? Anyway, I had to re-pre-order and now it looks >like I'm gonna have to wait even more since I doubt I'll make the first >shipment... However, the bottom line is that all the reviews are saying this is >a great product and I'd rather be a little frustrated with customer service >than out $200 bucks with a crappy product... Anyway, how's that? Worse than >your's? > -YUBS Yeesh. Now I'm hoping they didn't lose mine! I think it's time to call ACTLabs tommorrow. By the way, that Brian guy was supposed to e-mail me "pronto" a couple of days ago. Still haven't heard anything. Maybe "pronto" means "when hell freezes over" in British Columbia or something? Scott

I'd check if I were you!.. and by the way, some other people were complaining about the "sales people", well actually its the "sales PERSON" there is only one guy on sales, thats Brian, so belive it or not you are actually talking to the same person each time! Man, and talk about the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing, the sales guy didn't even know what a "dual axis control" was, he had to check with the other guys in the office to see if it was supported, which it isn't. Still though, I'm remaining optimistic about the quality of the wheel. If you can get around the sales problems I think that you'll be happy with the wheel... but don't vouch for me or anything, I just read the reviews... Perhaps we should diplomatically let ACT Labs know about our concerns? -YUBS

Well I called and confirmed my order number. The wheel is shipping on Monday. So there :) This is my second choice. OK this is a basic thing to do as instructed my the FrcFeedB.txt file in the \ubisoft\f1rs directory. Are you saying that the MS wheel gives all the subtle effects which are laid out in this file? I thought only I-Force wheels would do this. I also heard the MS wheel only gave FF effects if you crashed into something or hit bumbs. That is a far cry from the full suite of effects claimed available in F1RS in FrcFeedB.txt. F1RS is the only game I want a FF wheel for. So if the wheel doesn't give full effects then forget it. And that Mad Catz FF wheel is out of the question... -- Header address intentionally scrambled to ward off the spamming hordes. cisko [AT] ix [DOT] netcom [DOT] com

Wow, sounds like you are a personal friend of Bill Gates or something. After buying Cart Precision Racing and being extremely disappointed I do not trust Microsoft AT ALL when it comes to games and *** devices. Especially steering wheels!!

I called ACTLAbs last night and talked to Brian. They still do have my order and it should be at my house on Tuesday to Thursday. I actually sent a *** e-mail to Brian, the guy in charge of marketing and the President of ACTLabs the night before last. Now I just hope I get my wheel before they read those!!!!! :)

HEY DUDE: I HATE MICROSOFT AS MUCH AS THE NEXT GUY, BUT THEY *DO* MAKE A GOOD WHEEL MOUSE. AND AN AWESOME FF WHEEL, APPARENTLY. I WILL BUYING ONE SOON TO SEE FOR MYSELF.

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> >Actlabs is doing all of you a favor by delaying the Force RS forever... > >BUY THE MICROSOFT WHEEL!!! I just got mine (for $169) and it's ROCK solid. > >Not a TRACE of jitter or spiking with any game including GPL, a really cool > Wow, sounds like you are a personal friend of Bill Gates or something. After > buying Cart Precision Racing and being extremely disappointed I do not trust > Microsoft AT ALL when it comes to games and *** devices. Especially > steering wheels!!

Don't ya hate when you stick your foot in your mouth! :-) Ahh who cares, the customer is always right, right? I think ACT Labs should be listening because its already been established that their customer service needs improvement, the last thing they need is a bad product... -YUBS

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> >I'd check if I were you!.. and by the way, some other people were > complaining > >about the "sales people", well actually its the "sales PERSON" there is > only one > >guy on sales, thats Brian, > >Perhaps we should diplomatically let ACT Labs know about our > >concerns? > > -YUBS > I called ACTLAbs last night and talked to Brian. They still do have my order > and it should be at my house on Tuesday to Thursday. I actually sent a *** > e-mail to Brian, the guy in charge of marketing and the President of ACTLabs > the night before last. Now I just hope I get my wheel before they read > those!!!!! :)

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> >Actlabs is doing all of you a favor by delaying the Force RS forever... > >BUY THE MICROSOFT WHEEL!!! I just got mine (for $169) and it's ROCK solid. > >Not a TRACE of jitter or spiking with any game including GPL, a really cool > Wow, sounds like you are a personal friend of Bill Gates or something. After > buying Cart Precision Racing and being extremely disappointed I do not trust > Microsoft AT ALL when it comes to games and *** devices. Especially > steering wheels!!

I agree with you on CPR, but to conclude that ALL products with the MS sticker suck, is a little silly, isn't it? The wheel doesn't, that's for sure! l8er ronny -- How to get rid of censorship in German game releases <http://www.gamesmania.com/german/maniac/freedom/freedom.htm |\ _,,,---,,_ I want to die like my Grandfather, ZZZzz /,`.-'`' -. ;-;;,_ in his sleep. |,4- ) )-,_. ,\ ( `'-' Not like the people in his car, '---''(_/--' `-'\_) screaming their heads off!

"real problems" such as???? -- Header address intentionally scrambled to ward off the spamming hordes. cisko [AT] ix [DOT] netcom [DOT] com or Start Your Own

>> >Actlabs is doing all of you a favor by delaying the Force RS forever... >> Well I called and confirmed my order number. The wheel is shipping >> on Monday. So there :) >Are you the one who's sponsored by Act Labs? One of the guys on this list Not quite. I have no problem sending the wheel right back to them if is is a pile of junk. How sure are you that the RS is built the same as the Force RS? SO you can feel the gears shift? That is one (or two) of the effects... -- Header address intentionally scrambled to ward off the spamming hordes. cisko [AT] ix [DOT] netcom [DOT] com

>Its worth*** on for I tell ya, if you get another wheel you will >kick yourself. OK. Will the wheel work in DOS? I don't care about FF, I just want a functioning wheel. -- Header address intentionally scrambled to ward off the spamming hordes. cisko [AT] ix [DOT] netcom [DOT] com

That's ok. Carp Precision Fishing er... Cart Precision Racing comes _with_ the MSFFW, and it _still_ sucks :) -Larry > Wow, sounds like you are a personal friend of Bill Gates or something. After > buying Cart Precision Racing and being extremely disappointed I do not trust > Microsoft AT ALL when it comes to games and *** devices. Especially > steering wheels!!

Huh? It sure ain't that way in Viper Racing. -Larry > I also heard the MS wheel only gave > FF effects if you crashed into something or hit bumbs.