Talk about realizim...I took off from Tampa with the PMDG 737 climbed to about 3000' and all of a sudden I heard a poping sound from my Thrustmaster Afterburner Joystick. As soon as I heard the poping sound, the joystick stopped working causing mmy plane to go into a shallow turning dive. I also felt the joystick getting very hot and could hear a sizzling sound coming from it along with lots of eye watering smoke and burning wire smell.I jumped up and unplugged the joystick and opened the windows to air out my apartment. I just bought this thing yesterday from Compusa and only used it for a about an hour. It says on my sales reciept, they charge %15 re-stocking fee for opened packages. Will I lose &15 of the $100 i paid for this piece of junk which almost burned down my house? I plan on fighting this one if they do. Im going back to my good ol Microsoft FF2 which never let me down. Robert

I'm sure they'll replace it or refund all your money. The restocking fee generally applies only to working products that you return because you don't want them.

"Restocking fees" apply on to stuff that they 'restock' - ie can resell. If it's defective they have to replace it 100%. In fact, I'd demand to see a manager and raise hell - ask for some sort of compensation for the smoke smell in your apartment and so on. I'd also write to the manufacturers - include some photo's if you can. This a) may get you something from them, and :( will let them know there's a problem - your letter could result in a recall which saves some other poor buggers house from burning down!Richard

>see a manager and raise hell That's the key sentence.

>see a manager and raise hell >That's the key sentence. Why does the manager of CompUSA deserve to be yelled at? Just curious...Seriously, not everyone is out to give you the shaft. I don't think anyone would deny the guy a replacement product, given that the original unit burst into flame...Maybe one should be POLITE first, before resorting to yelling and threats of lawsuits...If necessary, he should "raise hell" with the manufacturer, who is really at fault for the defective product. But only if being civil doesn't work.Why is everyone so hostile anymore?Best Regards,NickBlue Ridge Dx

I think I would report the defect to Underwriters Laboratory. thats a very serious fire and shock hazard.

Wow that is realism and thankfully you was not to harmed other than the possible financial loss. Living in the UK I have never heard of "restocking fees". We don't have them whatever they are.A full explanation would be cool. Over here if you have a defective item (burns up) then you would just get a replacement with or without a receipt in most cases. In some cases without a receipt you could possibly end up with a credit note to the value of the item.Invariably you can just exchange for new or even exchange for different item.Earlier this year before I got my PC beefed up I bought FS9 and had no luck with it. I had it on my machine for about two weeks, In the end I despaired, took it back to the store (Game) and they gave me my money back no problem. Now thats service.Wycliffe

Exactly! The poor manager didn't want to burn your house down ... unless he doesn't like you (:-lol).Be polite, and you can get even more! :)

This is something that needs to be reported to the manufacturer, U.L. and the Consumer Products safety Commission. I am assuming you live in the US. I would also check the outlet with a multi meter to be sure you don't have an electrical problem. I am a fire invetsigator by trade and this is something that concerns me a bit. I would be sure and contact the CPSC. They may already have a record of problems with this device. If you have trouble tracking down phone numbers, let me know, or contact your local Fire Marshal's [email protected] Burke

I agree that you should report it. If it just stopped working, you would just have returned it and got a replacement. Since it actually caught fire, it's more serious. There could be a hardware problem with a batch and several more might be burning. I'm sure the manufacturer would like to know about this. You'd probably get some freebie in return from them. When I reported a problem with the MX700 mouse charging device (not a fire :D ) to Logitech I was offered a cordless keyboard in return for bringing the problem to their attention.

Thanks for all the advice.I will handle it politly with the store when I return it tomorrow. I don't expect to have any problems with getting my money back. As for why it happened to begin with, I don't know. My friend bought one with me last Monday, but he did not use his yet. After I told him what happened to mine, He decieded not to take the chance and is going to return his as well. Im sure it was a freak thing. Maybe the transformer was bad, I don't know. However, I am glad it happened while I was using it. I sometimes leave my PC on overnight and that could have been disasterous.I hooked my Sidwinder forcefeed back up and its working fine. I really didn't need a new one, but thought the seperate throttle would be nice to try. It worked OK before it burned up, but it was not as good as what I had anyways. I will report it, because I would hate to hear it burned someones house down later and I never said anything.Robert

These kind of posts never cease to amaze and disappoint me. Some facts;[ul][li] What your joystick suffered was most likely "infant mortality". A component goes bad within the first 10 to 20 hours of operation.[li] "Infant mortality" results from the lack of "burn in" of a product prior to shipping, as opposed to design flaws which show up at initial turn on or through use over time.[li] Lack of "burn in" is caused by consumer demand to reduce cost.[li] Were "burn in" to take place, it would have probably caught this problem.[li] However, were "burn in" to be performed, you would PROBABLY not have been willing pay the extra $20 or $30 that would have been tacked onto the product price to ensure that the infant mortality issues were non-existent.[/ul]What you suffered was most likely a one in a million occurance. What's disappointing, to me anyway, is that the issue is the consumer's (you and me) demand to reduce cost. We can't have it both ways. I would rather pay an extra $20 to see that all hardware products are burned in and IM problems are seen before shipment.

hehehe; a fire!!! Wrap a bandage around your burnt hand and limp when you walk in the store. hehehe. The limp was from when you tripped running away from the fire!!! :+ Any problems, just call me!! I'll get you a new hand, new stick, new computer and whatever else you desire. :+ :+