That’s PR for you and those are one of the things I hate about them. This is them not owning up to the issue. There’s many things wrong with what he says, including the things you mentioned.
He also stated these problems only surfaced within 48 hours. Assuming this interview was done on the 18th, or possibly 17th. That means he thinks this all began on the 15th/16th. But people have seen these issues on the 13th, if not before (and I’m sure there’s been way over 50 complaints).
Further more, these issues popped up left and right on the weekend of President’s day, so they couldn’t be reached until Tuesday anyway… which by that time people had to work, go to school, etc and probably didn’t have time to immediately call them about it. So they had 50 calls about it the day after the weekend. Now I’m sure the total has soared since then.
It’s honorable that Mad Catz wan’t to take care of the problem, but this wouldn’t be a huge problem in the first place if they had done some competent QA work. Many people are seeing this problem within 5-15 minutes of using the stick- how on earth could anyone have let this through. It’s absolutely ridiculous. The design flaw itself, and the poor QA indicate either incompetence or cutting corners, and now customers are being asked to bear the burden for that by going through the trouble of sending their sticks back in, and waiting weeks or longer for them to get fixed…
I’m not knocking people’s choices if they want an SE- but after all that, I personally would not want to give my money to Mad Catz. I’d return it and go for a HRAP 3/SA on amazon or something. Actually, I think they might be out now, but last time I checked, the price was about the same as the SE, and you don’t have to deal with any defects. Even if it cost me more, to me it would be wroth it not giving my money to a company who screwed me over…
RMA’d mine right now but since i live in San Diego they said i could just drop it off at hq and they’ll have it back to me in a week or two. going to drop it off tomorrow since its only 10 minutes away from my university. wonder if i’ll run into MarkMan while i’m there.
IMO, returning your order for a HRAP 3 would not be a bad choice if you can find one in your price range. If you’re looking to avoid both modding and defects that would do it.
I’m up in LA and got about the same estimate. Running the tracking # through FedEx’s website shows estimated delivery is tomorrow morning. Here’s to a quick turnaround!
tell us about how the stick is performing. i’m thinking of just buying a JLF instead and putting it in b/c i’m worried of just getting a new stick with the same defects.
Yeah, my only option is to get one overseas…will set me back around $300 AUD, however the SE fightstick is costing me $162 AUD. What about x-arcade sticks? This store near me has the double unit for $250 AUD, and the single units for $200.
Can someone elaborate for a joystick newbie on how the washer issue is damaging the stick? I’ve heard people say that if you get a Sanwa joystick and put it in, you’ll be fine. I’ve also heard that it scratches the PCB, and I’m not sure what part of the stick the PCB is exactly, and I’m worried that if I continue using the stick while I wait for replacement parts, it’ll break permanently.
My question is this: Can I play with my SE stick for a couple weeks until it breaks, and then slap Sanwa parts in and be good as new?
Me and my roommate both got one of these sticks, and his joystick was sticking right out of the box. Tonight it stopped registering some button inputs, and he took it back to Gamestop and ordered another one online. We played single player with my stick for a while, and now mine is starting to have problems registering button inputs too. I think I’d rather mod the stick with Sanwa parts instead of returning it to Madcatz or Gamestop, but I’m wondering if I’ve already damaged the stick too much to repair. If I order that JLF joystick from Lizardlick, does it come with a PCB? I just don’t want to have to be COMPLETELY without a joystick for a month!
i am a noob too, but i quickly learned and could tell the difference between the quality of the mad catz and a sanwa, after taking them apart. it could be not gluing down the washer or it could be mad catz just making a crappy pcb that does not hold the washer down, because sanwas is not glued down, but it does not move around once the pcb is on top of it.
I received my SE from Gamestop last Friday. Spent around 10-12 hours on HD Remix with it over the weekend (and posted an initial, and positive, review on another thread here).
I picked up SF IV on Tuesday and spent a couple hours with the SE stick on it. My stick now does not register the bottom-left corner, sticks like all hell and misses the left input with some frequency. So, FYI, if your SE doesn’t have any problems now, don’t think you’re in the clear yet.
I put in an order at LizardLick for a JLF and a fresh set of Sanwa snap-ins.
The SE was nice while it worked, but I can’t trust MadCatz with doing a proper repair job…I’ll have to do it myself. Lesson learned; If I want a decent stick, I’m going to have to shell out the money for either the TE or a custom unit. Caveat emptor, I suppose.
So I figured the problem with my completely non-responsive stick is that the wires connecting the usb to the pcb aren’t properly soldered. I can sometimes get it working with a little finesse, but since I have no solder iron or the necessary skills to use one – I have little choice but to since it back to Madcatz.
Oh, and when I do get it working, the turbo stays on regardless of whether or not the lock switch is on. It’s quite annoying trying to do a focus attack when the turbo doesn’t let you charge it.
Damn man. Super bummed that my stick decided to die on me (left input on stick or 4 won’t register) tonight, but it’s good to at least see Madcatz open to fixing the washer problem. I guess I’ll mod the new one right away to avoid any trouble.
Thanks for the reply, but you didn’t answer my question. If I keep using the joystick and scratch the PCB all to hell, will I still be able to replace it with a new Sanwa stick and have a functional joystick? Does the JLF Sanwa stick come with its own PCB? If it doesn’t, I may as well send in my SE stick for official repairs, because I’m sure the PCB on mine is already a little fucked up. I don’t want to keep using the stick while I wait for the parts to get here if I’m causing irreparable damage to it.
Everyone who gets irritated by caps look away or scroll away from this post…
MARKMAN!
I LIVE IN THE UK AND ORDERED YOUR PRODUCT. IF IT IS DEFECTIVE HOW IS MADCATZ TAKING CARE OF INTERNATIONAL CUSTOMERS? IT’S ALL WELL AND GOOD TELLING AMERICANS TO SHIP IT FOR FREE, BUT I HIGHLY DOUBT THEY’LL OFFER THE SAME TO THOSE OF US UNLUCKY ENOUGH TO LIVE OUTSIDE THE U.S.
One more question I’ve got: If my stock SE is having problems with buttons becoming nonresponsive, is that also a problem that will likely go away with new buttons? I’m about to make my Sanwa order, I just want to make sure I’m not going to end up with nonworking buttons and a voided warranty
