Fractal Design is awesome

D

Dephcon

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Jul 27, 2004
Messages
1,234
I was going to include this is my build log but figured it was worth it's own post.

I had a bad fan controller and one of two power LEDs was dead on my Node 605, my first product from Fractal Design. I emailed their support and heard back from them within an hour or two with a short form to fill out. They shipped the replacement parts later that day. Very good and fast service, in fact I've never had an easier time with support for anything.

Now this is what makes them pretty awesome in my books - I modified one of the fan brackets so that it only held one SSD and one HDD (to improve airflow), the other one got ruined as it was my guinea pig. I wanted to use the second one as a cable raceway for my PCI-E power cords, but it's way too bad to use. I emailed their support again, explaining what I was looking to do and how i murdered the other bracket. I told them I would pay for the cost of the bracket and shipping and this is what they shot back after 10 minutes:

Hello Matthew,

I could send you a new HDD bracket easily. It would be covered by the “oops I broke it” clause in the warranty, so there will be no need to pay for it. Just fill out another form below and email it back and I will get your replacement HDD bracket sent out as soon as possible.
Click to expand...

Now that is service. Not only am in love with the case but their support is fantastic. As long as they keep designing their cases the way they do, I'll be a customer for life.
 
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The quality of their cases are what had me sold, I couldn't be happier with my r4. Well except for when I have to lift the case. But that's another story haha. Those cases are built to be ridiculously sturdy.
 
Wow.. think I know who I'll go with when I decide to upgrade cases for sure!
 
I have an Arc Midi R2 that's awesome. And while I haven't had to deal with customer service, I've heard more than one great story about their CS so I never hesitate to recommend them.
 
Yeah you can't really describe how well these things are built. The 605 was pricey, even on sale but it's a tank. I'd really like to try one of their matx cases for the next freind/family build I do. The core/arc cases with white fans are pure sex.

I would get a 304 for my Haswell itx build but I can't pass up on the NCASE. :eek:
 
The 605 is a HTPC case. You're looking at the Define series for a big tower.
 
I had recently purchased a Core 3000 Usb 3 for a friend's build and it was a very nice case. I was impressed with the build quality.
 
Sounds sweet!

I'm really leaning towards the Midi R2 for my next case for water cooling. So small, but you can fit so much!
 
I posted this over on overclockers.com/forums and wanted to post it here as well:

Hey guys,

I just had an awesome experience with Fractal's support and wanted to let y'all know how fantastic they are.

I recently bought a Define XL R2 and like some others have experienced, the included motherboard standoffs were a little too short, preventing some PCI cards from seating fully. Also one of the included fans had been making a faint clicking sound. Not bad but I figured I'd mention it to them.

I filled out a form via email and 2 days later a box arrived that had the correct standoffs and 2 fans! They threw one in for my trouble. I am very surprised and impressed with their promptness and how they took care of me. They have a fan in me now!
 
Well, I've received my Define R4 black and unfortunately I have issues with both my panels, bent corner, warped zones by the screw holes, scratch marks, etc, not very good Quality Control.
I've contacted them by using their form in their website, let's see if their customer support is better than their QC. I've contacted them Thursday, still waiting for a response. I'm from Portugal by the way.
One example:
 
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I wasn't thrilled with the Arc Midi I used for my parents build. The metal was very flimsy and easily bent. Came with a paint chip. Everything just seemed very cheap compared to other ~$65 cases I've worked with. It does look fantastic though.
 
HeavensCloud said:
I wasn't thrilled with the Arc Midi I used for my parents build. The metal was very flimsy and easily bent. Came with a paint chip. Everything just seemed very cheap compared to other ~$65 cases I've worked with. It does look fantastic though.
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R1 or R2? I acquired the R2 about a month and a half ago and it's a better case in all regards. Downgraded from a FT02 and I've been quite pleased.

Good to know how great the support is from this thread.
 
I can vouch for Fractal Design as well. I ordered the Arc Midi R2 off Newegg and it came with a gouge in the left rear of the top panel. I emailed their support and they shipped me a replacement top panel. They earned a customer for life for their excellent customer service!
 
narciso said:
Well, I've received my Define R4 black and unfortunately I have issues with both my panels, bent corner, warped zones by the screw holes, scratch marks, etc, not very good Quality Control.
I've contacted them by using their form in their website, let's see if their customer support is better than their QC. I've contacted them Thursday, still waiting for a response. I'm from Portugal by the way.
One example:
*deleted fuzzy ass pic*
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If you emailed that picture to their support, you shouldn't expect much. Learn how to take a picture! Sorry, but that hurts my eyes!
 
J Macker said:
If you emailed that picture to their support, you shouldn't expect much. Learn how to take a picture! Sorry, but that hurts my eyes!
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The picture was taken with my low quality phone camera :) But the problem is visible.

Fractal responded to my email, they will send a replacement. Good service.

Better pictures, both side panels dented.


 
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Seems like Fractal Design is having some QC issues. Thankfully their customer service is good and they send replacement parts. Hopefully they fix these issues in the future because I really love my new case (Arc Midi R2).
 
Yeah I had an R4 front panel break on me, two or three of the plastic studs that hold it on snapped off and they sent me a new front panel a few days after I reported it. Good service, even if parts of the cases hadve issues. Didn't bug me too much, I used the broken panel for experiments. ;)
 
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