sschoeffler

iTrader: (24)

Have had HP tuners for several years now, tuned 3 cars with it. Was tuning my fathers corvette and HP tuners stopped working mid tune. Unplugged it, plugged it back in still not working. Used it on a different laptop and still didn't work. Lights would light up but would not get detected on either of my laptops. Examined the MPVI Pro box and noticed a burnt smell. I then tried to find a number to contact HP tuners by and to no avail. Matter of fact there is no phone support to contact HP Tuners.
Later that night on December 13th I emailed them with my problem. 2 days later William Henn emailed me back and asking if I tried a new USB cable, and I replied I did and still didn't work. He then emails me back asking for my license.dat file which I email back to him. He responds to me later that day saying he checked my license.dat file and everything looks good and asks if I want to do a repair for $65 or a replacement for $285. Repair will take 2 weeks and replacement is 1-2 days. I respond I want to do a repair. He then sends me RMA information and asks that I include all my cables plus my MPVI Pro interface. So I send them and email him the tracking number. This was on December 16th. I then send an email December 29th asking if they have received it and William tells me no, so then I respond back saying I checked the tracking number and it shows it was delivered to HP Tuners 3 days after I sent it. They received it December 19th @ 9:15AM. William responded back on December 30th William says they just received it and it was in queue to be worked on.
January 8th I get an email from William Henn saying I had to buy a new replacement unit for $289. I then responded that $289 was a crazy price considering I was an existing customer who has continually bought credits to tune friends' cars. I then broke down the price to him from a new unit. A new package unit costs $649 to a new customer. and you get the box, $400 in credits, software, EIO plug and all cables needed to hook it up to your car. If you subtract the cost of the credits and cables you get with a new unit the total is $196.99. That doesn't include the cost of the software you get. I then continued on that I know for a fact that little board doesn't cost $289.00 or anywhere near it. He then responded back saying the price is what it is and will not change. I asked if he could throw in some credits to offset the cost of the unit and he again declines.

So here I am now, I just bought the box only because I have about $300 in credits alone tuning my Turbo Trans AM. I will never tune another vehicle with HP Tuners due to the fact they overcharge for their parts when they break even if it is from an ongoing customer. Its not the money anymore....its the principle of the way they treat an existing customer.

2xLS1

iTrader: (25)

If it will make you feel any better I've spent close to $28K (yes that is a K) with them and don't get treated much different.

murphinator

iTrader: (2)

I have also been through similar , their customer service is very "dry" to say the least and I kept getting told to do more diagnostics on my end finally I convinced them to allow me to send it to them to check it out and it was a bad board like you and not repairable .Why so much resistance to letting me send it back to check it at my expense was baffling... I just wanted them to look at it instead of continuing to reply to my e mails with long winded technical explanations of all the things I could be doing wrong that weren't getting me a working interface.

In hpt forum threads at the time (this was about 6 years ago) other members thought it was caused by using an invertor which I had been doing and that I should buy a quality 12v/120v power supply cord instead of using an invertor so I bought a Targus brand one ($165) that was highly regarded in that thread and promptly fried another interface

When I got my 3rd interface there was a little note in the box about only using the interface on battery power due to voltage offset issues that can fry the interface so I bought a new laptop with better battery life and decided I would never plug an hpt interface into a laptop unless it was running only on battery no issues since.

MontecarloDrag

iTrader: (3)

I just don't see the problem. $289 for a new interface is a fair price. The day my interface dies I will just buy a new one and have them ship it overnight instead of trying to repair the old one. Time is money and I prefer reliability even if it's more costly.

Tuning is expensive, if you want to play you need to buy the tools. I have spent close to 10K in other tuning equipment not counting HPT/credits. Tuning equipment always pays for itself, it's a fact.

Of course HPT has it's issues, that's why I also bought other tuning solutions. You can't have everything in one brand, if you need more freedom you need to spend money, period.

I have always received a good customer service from Bill

sschoeffler

iTrader: (24)

What I am getting at is poor business tactics with they way they treat their customers by inflating the price of an essential part that is part of a package unit that obviously has a flaw in the design and they do noting to remedy it. HP Tuners knows about the voltage issue in their boards and do nothing to protect the end user from failure. They then obviously capitalize on the flaw and charge the existing customer an inflated rate to repair what they know will fail.

Here is another example both in which I know to be true and both are sponsors on the board.

Bought a set of fuel injectors from FIC. A little over a year later a fuel injector fails. I get a discount on a fuel injector because I bought a set from him previously.

A customer bought a set of stage 2.5 heads from Texas Speed. Valve spring breaks from inproper warmup and drops a valve and tears the head up. Texas speed offers a replacement head at a deep discounted price.

Those two examples are of excellent customer service. They are not looking to capitalize on their customers misfortunes but are there to support and help their customers out. That is how a company receives repetitive business.

HP Tuners is not the only fish in the sea and I will never tune another vehicle again using their software. If this issue had been handled in a different way I wouldn't have been so pissed off about it.

01ssreda4

iTrader: (96)

I had a similar issue with my tuning box not long after I bought it second hand. I went through the same deal, exchanging emails and them issuing me an RMA. Mine turned out to be a bad chip on the board and the repair was approx $90 with return shipping. They only ship one day a week and I was lucky mine was repaired the day before the shipping day. In total I was out about $100 and my interface was gone less then 2 weeks total. Works perfect now no complaints. You do have to remember hptuners is a small company and they can't always afford to eat all the mistakes that come their way. Not defending them but something to think about.

LSX Power Tuning

iTrader: (4)

I have always had great customer service with HPT. I look at it a little different, they don't have to offer any discount on a replacement. I think getting any discount on a new one is awesome and going above and beyond IMO. Most of the time if you have a product go out outside of warranty you're just out of luck. My $3k TV went out a couple months out of warranty, got zero off on my new one for example.

sschoeffler

iTrader: (24)

The two companies I listed are small companies. We're not talking Jegs or Summit Racing. On another note I think your missing the point I was trying to make.

That board does not cost them anywhere near $289.00 to make

If you part out the entire HP tuners package and charge for everything but the MPVI Interface you have $400 in credits, and $52.01 in cables which brings the total to $452.01. Now take that total and add the $289 they charge for the MPVI interface. That total is $741.01

But wait a minute....You can buy the whole thing brand new for $649.00
That is the point I am making

HP Tuners is capitalizing on the flaw they know they have in their system by gouging their customer when their part breaks. I asked William Henn AKA Bill@HP Tuners if he could throw in some credits to offset this cost difference and he said absolutely not.

Phil'sC5vette

iTrader: (4)

I know the feeling. I have $15K in licenses. Last year I wanted to just trade in my old interface for a new interface. my old one had nothing wrong with it and it was $300 to replace.

Now with the 2015 vehicles and BETA you cant license year make and model so everyone get charged an extra $100 for licenses. Get used to it because that's the future. Licensing every vehicle.

sschoeffler

iTrader: (24)

I bet if that $3k TV had a voltage surge every time you turned your garbage disposal on you would never buy the same kind of TV again. Probably not even the same brand. Matter of fact...I bet if any TV manufacturer had a circuit board so voltage sensitive that it would go out when any type of voltage fluctuation took place they would either
A) Go out of business
or
B) Fix the damn problem

HP Tuners knows about the issue and have not made any steps to correct the problem. They are counting on people to break their units so they can stay in business by selling replacements at an inflated rate.

01ssreda4

iTrader: (96)

I'm really sorry you think it works like that. I do now know why you're frustrated. ...because you don't understand how a small niche business like hptuners works.

That's quite an accusation, and borderline conspiracy theory. Life must be frustrating for and fella such as yourself. Sheesh....

Truth is, I used to be a certified welder. I wasnt some monkey on an assembly line, I got a job right out of welding school for a small company. We made mostly one off parts that were custom made and the only reason this po dunk little place was able to keep 20 people employed is because we filled a niche. We also serviced our own stuff much like hptuners. We had a small office staff, small electronic department, couple of machinists, couple of salesmen, and one welder. During my time there I learned a lot about how small niche businesses are ran, and how fragile they are. I'm sorry you didn't have that same opportunity to learn, but trust me, hptuners is not out to get you.

codyvette

iTrader: (24)

I don't care for their customer service either, money aside. There are a few companies for our cars that don't have phone lines. I won't spend forever bitching about every detail or who is right but I do hate not being able to talk to someone at a company I have spent a **** pile of money with and continue to still today. Oh well.

mrvedit

I suspect the HP Tuners outsourced the design of their interface board at significance expense.
Perhaps they simply cannot afford the cost of changing the design, the PC layout and the setup
fee for manufacturing a new PC board.
Perhaps the Interface actually costs them something like $250. They add some cables, their software
and sell it for $650, making enough money to pay for the significant software R&D costs. Obviously the
credits included in the $650 package don't cost them anything. Therefore, subtracting them to determine
the value of the interface board doesn't make sense; otherwise if they had included, lets say, 12 credits
and you deduct the cost of the cables, DVD and packing you would conclude the interface board costs nothing.

Nonetheless I agree it is bad customer service. I agree that they should include a few credit which really
costs them nothing.

In short, while I don't agree with your analysis, I agree with your conclusion.

2xLS1

iTrader: (25)

Should have been around in 2004 when they launched. The bad thing about complaining about them if you are still using their product and need support is it's almost like letting the person preparing your food hear you talk bad about them.

sschoeffler

iTrader: (24)

Conspiracy theory...lol not at all...only factual statistics. Did you completly miss the point when I was talking about LSX Power Tuning and his TV? Did you just read by what I said about the garbage disposal and frying a television because of a voltage sensative television?

There is an obvious flaw in the system because ANY TIME a 12 volt power inverter is used...no matter the brand...the board on the HP tuners gets fried. HP Tuners still to this day, after years of knowing about the issue, they still refuse to revise a board that cures this issue. Now with knowing that, what reason would there be to not revise a board unless it was to drive profits up.

If it were me in the shoes of HP Tuners I would fix the flaw they have in their boards and avoid issues like this all together because if you think I am the only one who has had this issue you are dead wrong. There are MANY others.

You were a welder maybe I can make you understand the point I am making this way. Lets say you were welding tubular 304SS and you did not fill your tubes with argon and your welds were brittle and sugared. Would you stand behind your work and fix the flaw or would you charge them again to fix what you should have built correctly the first time?

Its all about business practices and principles and frankly in my book HP Tuners has pretty poor business practices. Bottom line is there is a flaw in their hardware and they will not fix it. For whatever reason...who knows...I have my opinion and you have yours. I know the end user is the one that pays the price for the flaw in their design.

1 Slow WS6

iTrader: (1)

They probably don't fix it because they know your going to pay for it when it breaks. What choice do you really have, go to the competitor and pay them the full amount for their software and cables or the cheaper route of replacing yours? It sucks but that's life

01ssreda4

iTrader: (96)

Thats simply not true. My car was originally tuned by someone using a power supply for his laptop. It may happen sometimes, but not every time. Again you're unreasonable accusations make it very conspiracy theory, though I don't expect you to see that.

mrvedit

I noticed their warning not to use a power inverter on the laptop and simply followed that warning. I have changed the tune 100+ times, at least once a week that I drive my car.

murphinator

iTrader: (2)

I did also... too bad the first 2 interfaces I bought had no such warning accompanying them I guess give them credit for at least letting customers know it was a problem by that time but by then I already knew that from hpt forum posts.

What burned me more was the unwillingness to let me ship mine back to them to check what it needed , I expected it would cost me something , the whole reason I bought my 2nd interface at the time was after weeks of trying to get them to allow me to send the unit back to be inspected I needed one I could tune with and kept getting extremely technical e mails about how it must be something I was doing wrong on my end but I had been using it for a decent period of time same car , same way I had been using it so I knew something had changed , in the end I was correct there was something wrong with my interface , it was quite the runaround...

mrvedit

I've been in the computer software and now Internet security business for almost 35 years. While I have always strived to have perfect products, that just isn't possible every day for 35 years. However it is possible to have near-perfect customer service, exceeding each and every customer's expectations. (Actually easy now considering how bad most computer company support is.) This has let me sell many brand new products to existing customers - they know that a version 1.0 might not be perfect, but at least the support will be good and honest.
Its a shame to see even hard working companies not understand what "The customer is always right" really means. You have to fully understand it, and be willing to lose money on a few customers, to stay in business a long time.