My experience with Saitek X 52

[:FI:Ghost]

Greetings all!

It's been two months now since I have been without my X 52 and now I would like to share my experience with Saitek X52 joystick and the Saitek company. I've posted a letter that I wrote to the Saitek company a week and a half ago which explains everything that I have experienced with it, and to which I have never received a reply from them. I hope that moderators will not erase my post, I have never posted anything in these forums before, but I have been using this site very often. I am totally disappointed with Saitek and I wanted to share that with my fellow online pilots.


Dear Saitek!
I am writing you in order to introduce you to my problem. I live in Serbia and I bought a X52 joystick in July, 2008. Just 5 minutes after I had plugged it in, it ceased to work. I,then, sent it back to the shop in Belgrade and their response was, I quote: „ Just a minor error, we have fixed it now and it will work normally“. When I received it back it worked for 3-4 months, and then it broke down again. I had to send it back to the shop, and they replied with the same „just a minor error, it will work fine now“. When I got it back the second time, it continued to work until spring 2009, but during that period I often had to unplug it and plug it in again, since X axis often „floated“. Then, in spring 2009 it broke down again, for the third time. This time I wrote a letter to your representative in England, and they told me that I had a right for a replacement the first time it broke down. I sent my joystick back to the shop in Belgrade, passed the message I got from the Saitek England and after more then a week of negotiations they „concluded that I do have a right for replacement“. I had to wait for a whole month before the people from Saitek in Germany sent a new X 52 to the shop in Belgrade, and then a couple of days until the shop in Belgrade sent it to me. I was so happy with the new joystick, and relieved that I had the first, faulty one, replaced, that I didn’t even want to report that one button on the new X 52 did not work at all, and 2 more would sometime cease to work. I was just happy that the axes worked fine, and that the problems were over; but, how wrong was I! In November 2009 the new X 52 ceased to work completely. To add to my surprise, during the period of several months before that, I rarely even used it since I was very busy with my daily obligations. I packed the new, and now completely out of order, X 52 and sent it back to the shop in Belgrade. They were, of course, „very surprised“ about how that could have happened to me, again. They told me that I will get a new one when Saitek Germany sends them one in their scheduled delivery in December. Of course, throughout most of December I never got a word from the shop so I decided to call them. The manager there told me that they had received their scheduled delivery from Germany, but my joystick was NOT in it, for unknown reasons. They also said that their next delivery is due to come this January. I called them today to ask about things and they said that the delivery could probably come at the end of January, or even later.
So, to sum things up. Even tough I paid 130 Euros for a brand new X 52 in July, 2008, I had it broken down 3 times, then replaced with a new one, that also broke down several months later. Now, it has been more than a month and a half that I am without a joystick and, as things look right now, it could very well be more than 2 months.
To be honest with you, I have gotten sick of this joystick, and I would like to get my money back. Is there anyway that you could help me? I hope that the Saitek company will find resources and time to help me.
Sincerely Yours:
my name

[Skyraider3D]

My view on the X52: Amazon.co.uk: Customer Reviews: Saitek X52 Hotas Flight Controller System Joystick (PC)