Road Trip Tuning?

[Tonyrodz]

We have been monitoring the situation for the last year and a half, and unfortunately, for the first time ever since Justin started this business, we have had to change our free update policy. The whole pandemic and the resulting stay-at-home situation caused a lot of a backlog here, it was up to a 120 person list, up to a 3 month wait for free tune updates, and people who purchased tunes 10 years ago were getting bad attitudes when their free updates weren't done immediately.

We now offer free tune updates for the first year, after that it could be a $40 charge up to $150 just depending on the mods that you are adding.

Also any tune related changes that need to be made is completely separate, that is taken care of if needed as usual.

From a business stand point I can understand that part of it. Thx for chiming in. So is the $600 something tune adjusted price wise? Since the life time portion is only 1 year now.

 

[Joseph Garcia]

We have been monitoring the situation for the last year and a half, and unfortunately, for the first time ever since Justin started this business, we have had to change our free update policy. The whole pandemic and the resulting stay-at-home situation caused a lot of a backlog here, it was up to a 120 person list, up to a 3 month wait for free tune updates, and people who purchased tunes 10 years ago were getting bad attitudes when their free updates weren't done immediately.

We now offer free tune updates for the first year, after that it could be a $40 charge up to $150 just depending on the mods that you are adding.

Also any tune related changes that need to be made is completely separate, that is taken care of if needed as usual.

As I previously stated, it is certainly your right to adjust your business model as you see fit for your own business interests and outcomes.

However, adjusting your business model as a result of your not being able to effectively manage your bookings and resulting backlog, by effectively penalizing your existing (and long term) customer base (in favor of new customers), does not seem like a good business model for long term business viability. This is particularly germane, since it appears that your capability to alter OEM ECM and TCM settings to tune newer model year trucks no longer exists.

That said, I do love my existing Black Bear Performance tune.

Time will tell.

 

[CaptainAmerica1]

I won’t be buying any more tunes after hearing this. You’d think we’d be grandfathered in if purchased before the policy change. But that’s what companies do, they say one thing and then backpedal to find some way to profit from it later. So much for BBP…

 

[Rocket Man]

I myself bought HP Tuners and will learn how to do it myself. Nobody was expecting our free updates to be done immediately like you claimed but not hearing back for 2-3 weeks on a simple question and not being able to send another email for fear of being pushed to the back of the line due to your email policies was frustrating to say the least. I looked over your website and I don’t see any mention of the policy. I swear it was there before, free updates for as long as you own the vehicle or am I imagining that? Regardless, it has been well known for years so if you changed it, you need to mention that on the site so people like me don’t keep on touting that benefit only to be told my information is wrong. I had to go look at your website to confirm and there’s no mention of this. That to me is deceiving. I understand you don’t want to scare customers off but if your policy changes, it should be mentioned on your website.

 

[Brandon2489]

This is why I chose Diablew. I emailed both tuners and within minutes got an email back from Diablew. Never got an email back from Blackbear. Even after 2 other emails were sent. I chose Diablew due to price and response time. Sure they charge 75 bucks after 1 year but at least they got back to me within minutes. It was also 200 bucks cheaper than Blackbear. I really think Blackbear knows what they are doing when it comes to tuning. There is no doubt about it. I'm definitely not knocking there ability to tune a vehicle. Just sucks they never got back to me and from what I have read they have done this to other members on here and on the gmtruckclub forum. I wish the best to them.

 

[George B]

I am hopeful they get things back on track.

 

[the_tool_man]

We have been monitoring the situation for the last year and a half, and unfortunately, for the first time ever since Justin started this business, we have had to change our free update policy. The whole pandemic and the resulting stay-at-home situation caused a lot of a backlog here, it was up to a 120 person list, up to a 3 month wait for free tune updates, and people who purchased tunes 10 years ago were getting bad attitudes when their free updates weren't done immediately.

We now offer free tune updates for the first year, after that it could be a $40 charge up to $150 just depending on the mods that you are adding.

Also any tune related changes that need to be made is completely separate, that is taken care of if needed as usual.

Time will tell. But I think this is a big mistake. Local tuner shops have caught up with the technology, and can provide local service at competitive rates (at least that's true where I live). They also can offer dyno tuning and other services with a much shorter timeline than sending stuff back and forth.

I'm generally a very loyal customer. But my loyalty requires reciprocity. Finding out that the "tunes for life" that I paid for, are no longer available, doesn't motivate me to remain loyal, to put it mildly. I'm very happy with my BB tune to this point. But I guess I'll be shopping locally next time.

 

[BlackBearPerf]

I myself bought HP Tuners and will learn how to do it myself. Nobody was expecting our free updates to be done immediately like you claimed but not hearing back for 2-3 weeks on a simple question and not being able to send another email for fear of being pushed to the back of the line due to your email policies was frustrating to say the least. I looked over your website and I don’t see any mention of the policy. I swear it was there before, free updates for as long as you own the vehicle or am I imagining that? Regardless, it has been well known for years so if you changed it, you need to mention that on the site so people like me don’t keep on touting that benefit only to be told my information is wrong. I had to go look at your website to confirm and there’s no mention of this. That to me is deceiving. I understand you don’t want to scare customers off but if your policy changes, it should be mentioned on your website.

Mark, we have over 200 emails with you back and forth, 21 email chains for all kinds of stuff, even stuff not tune related. We have put you to the front of the line multiple times to help you figure out your stuff. The people that were waiting 35 to 40 business days for updates were not so lucky.

 

[RST Dana]

I feel the same way about no longer getting free for life upgrades. What I have learned, their are now charging 23% more per tune than I paid for my last tune. I’m the kind of guy that would spent a few dollars more with their competition just to satisfy my displeasure. I have already been looking at options and hope to pull the trigger soon.

 

[Rocket Man]

Mark, we have over 200 emails with you back and forth, 21 email chains for all kinds of stuff, even stuff not tune related. We have put you to the front of the line multiple times to help you figure out your stuff. The people that were waiting 35 to 40 business days for updates were not so lucky.

I understand that, and I appreciate it. I have also sent you a LOT of business. I have also offered to pay for anything extra I asked for and you guys always said no that's OK. I felt it was mutually beneficial. I scratch your back, you scratch mine. It still took over a month last time between (2) 2-week waits for Justin to look at a log file and my truck was in limp mode the whole time. I offered to pay again. My trans builder told me I needed my tuner (you) to look at a certain part of the tune and log file. I won't go into specifics, but if I could have gotten Justin to do a simple thing in the tune I would have been up and running in a day. But there was no easy way to communicate due to the 2-week wait for every answer or addition to the information I could provide. So I don't see things getting better for you guys unless you hire somebody to help with at least part of the job load for him. Maybe you have or are going to, I don't know. But IMO you need to be able to offer tech advice over the phone so communication can happen in real time, not in 2 week chunks. I don't know any company that I've ever dealt with that took 2 weeks to answer a question, and if you needed to add to that question or change it. that would add another 2 weeks because the email chain was broken and you were set back in line again.

Regardless, I do appreciate you guys trying to help me as best as you could. i know you gave me special treatment but like I said, I sent a lot of people your way. So I guess I'm part of the problem.