Just venting my frustration and posting a buyer beware for anyone looking at WINCTRL for peripherals.

I ordered a PFP3N in March. Device arrives without issue and shipping was surprisingly quick.

I plug it in and set it up and everything works great ... until about hour 1 of a 2 hour flight. The buttons on the device just stop registering input. Screen works, but no input going into the computer or sim.

Googled around and it seems like a very common issue. Tried about 7 possible fixes, everything I could find online, and nothing helps. Device gives up sending inputs at random intervals during every single flight.

I finally reach out to WINCTRL and we go round and round with software and windows fixes I have already tried. One response takes a week + and the language barrier is strong making this even more difficult. Eventually they stop responding completely.

I reach out via email and they tell me to start another ticket on the website. There they tell me it's a hardware issue and my device needs replacing. It's now end of May. They tell me they need a photo of the Quality Control placard, and every individual piece in the box, uploaded as a separate photo. Thankfully I saved all of these, take the pictures and send.

Two weeks later they tell me two of the photos don't work for them. I retake them and send again.

They get back 4 days later with an address and I send it back. I hear nothing for a week after my tracker shows it was delivered. I reach out to see what's going on, and they tell me they have the device but someone from their "Resources and shipping department" needs to pick it up from the warehouse. Okay... another week goes by and I hear nothing. I reach out again and they ask me to confirm my shipping address so they can send me another unit. Another week and a half goes by. I reach out again and they tell me they will ship ASAP and send a tracking number. Another week goes by. I reach out again and they tell me "Sorry, let me expedite the shipment."

So that's where I am now. Almost 4 months after I bought this thing and I still have no working device. This has taken so much time and effort, and I don't even think a new device is going to do anything because this seems like a software or firmware issue from everything I've read.

It's a shame, because they really fill a hole in the market. Product looks and feels great and it's surprisingly affordable. But I'll never buy another thing from them again. I guess you get what you pay for.

Edited 14 hours ago14 hr by DiscoSweat

Sorry for your pain. Made in China means made with a randomness of quality that would not be tolerated in the equipment they are built to represent (real world counterparts). While your experience is highly negative, I have purchased and use 7 WW components over the past 18 months or so. All function to expectations and the procurement process was easy too. I hope you get things sorted out to your expectations. You deserve that much at least for gear costing well north of $100.00 USD. Good luck and blue skies,

-B

I haven't had to deal with support, but my experience buying the Orion rudder pedals was outstanding. Everything arrived in great shape (and arrived in less than a week), the build quality was excellent. The software isn't super intuitive but it's fine with me.

I met some of them at the Expo - they had a huge booth. Maybe the largest - tons of reps. So clearly they are doing well with sales.

It's interesting to hear of this nightmare though. That's gotta be extremely frustrating.

have the same with one of my boeing efis, i payed with paypal did a complain

very very bad customer support, i get a new one after tvo mounts

i have problems with the speedbrake on the TH i buy a new one as spare dont

want to wait 2-3 months and frustating coversations with the support its a joke.

I forget to tell my new radio Airbus the encoder not work correct not sure what to do, wait and hope it fixes with firmware update or put it in the bin.

Edited 8 hours ago8 hr by westman

Yup, Winwing is great until something goes wrong, then look out for a miserable customer service experience that may never get resolved. The worst part is how clueless they are of how bad their service is.

After this experience I’ll never buy from them again, no matter how cheap or cool their products might appear on the surface:

Edited 5 hours ago5 hr by regis9
Silly words not allowed.

I ordered a couple of joystick grips for DCS back in January. They shipped.

But because WINCTRL uses some obscure shipping partner now instead of FedEx, the grips disappeared into the aether. I opened a ticket and asked them to either re-ship the product or refund me. This started a months long back and forth dialog where they were obviously stalling.

They indicated numerous times they would follow up with the shipping partner and never did. I asked them over and over for a refund and they said "we'll help you get the refund process started." WHAT??? Just refund my money!!!

In May, I was about to do a Paypal dispute when the money finally was refunded. Never again.

I've purchased many many items from them and when everything works, it's a great product. However, I will not entertain going through that experience ever again.

Edited 3 hours ago3 hr by Greggy_D

Sounds like my experience exactly, ultimately a paypal refund was my solution.

Honestly it’s annoying seeing streamers talking about how great their products are etc, but never mention how bad it gets when anything goes wrong.

I also had an issue when I added the two efis panels to my 737 MCP, it would fall forward on the stand that came with it. Their response was “read the manual”. When I told them it was setup as per the manual they said “it’s working as designed”. Hahaha what?? You designed it to fall forward? Ok. Bought a third party stand and it works great, but never should have been necessary.

There are many other better companies out there to deal with, even if they are more expensive, it’s worth it to avoid the headaches and aggravation.

I've had a few dealings with their support and found them to be great. Granted they have been able to fix my issue.

Sorry to hear you've had bad dealings with them.

Edited 4 hours ago4 hr by Tavers

You need to be patient with them; it's a language translation problem. I had problems installing my Win CTRL airbus throttle package, but once I figured out what they were telling me, I got the package installed and working great! It took a few tries, but I got there.

Lee

10 minutes ago, Midnight Music said:

it's a language translation problem.

It's not a language translation problem. It's a general Chinese Company problem.

They think consumer protection laws in the country they are selling to don't apply to them and the chinese government does little to force companies to abide by them.

You will get the same experience when you buy on Amazon Marketplace from a chinese seller.

They flood the market with cheap products and their main goal is growth and sales. Holding up warranty laws is not on their priority list.

Edited 3 hours ago3 hr by Farlis

38 minutes ago, Midnight Music said:

You need to be patient with them; it's a language translation problem. I had problems installing my Win CTRL airbus throttle package, but once I figured out what they were telling me, I got the package installed and working great! It took a few tries, but I got there.

Lee

I have been very patient with them (it’s been 4 months since I purchased this and I’ve traded close to 50 messages with them!) This is not a language barrier issue lol

Edited 2 hours ago2 hr by DiscoSweat

Yes there are certainly translation issues, but that would not account for the shady behaviour and poor business practices I’ve experienced. Culture maybe? But I think @Farlis hit the nail on the head.

I waited 2.5 months for my PFP3N that shipped out of their California warehouse. Poor label maker and toner that messed up the label, make the package travel between multiple FedEx hubs in the US for weeks on end and their sorry customer service just kept telling me they're checking with the carrier every time I contacted them.

It took me several phone calls to Fedex to finally find a warehouse manager to traced the package, re-labeled and I finally got it. Absolute shambles from WINCTRL.

For me there were hardly any options. Virpil has good reviews but I called their Florida location during business hours (multiple times) and nobody was home lol. Their stuff is like always out of stock anyway.

Who else builds high end throttles, yokes, sticks, pedals?

I bought the Orion 32 rudder pedals from Winctrl but avoided getting anything else from them in case something went wrong and I had to deal with their customer services (I heard the stories !). Don't think much can go wrong with rudder pedals so thought it was worth the risk.

Stick and throttle I purchased from VKB. Virpil were always out of stock but VKB are just as good and have stuff in stock.