Tonyrodz
Resident Resident
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.
Road Trip Tuning?
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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
Full Access Member
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…
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
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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.
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George B
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I am hopeful they get things back on track.
the_tool_man
Full Access Member
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.
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 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.
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.
I have no dog in the fight, but I do agree that the customers that bought "tunes for life" should be grandfathered, and the commitment honored.
EDIT: or grandfather the existing customers for a longer period of time, like 5 or 7 years.
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This is a bit quizzical to me,,
The normal driver would not need a "Life Time" tune unless they are street racing, hauling loads that change every day or something similar. I think BB went above and beyond in even offering this service and should be lauded for providing it as long as they did. I sure would not offer it!
If you find the need to tweak your ride every day, week month or even yearly for any reason then why not put on the big boy suit and invest in the tuning rig and LEARN TO SUPPORT yourself in your endevours.
If it is a case of "I got it so even if I don't need it I want it" maybe you should reevaluate what you need it for.
The BB folks provide a great service, no I am not one of them, I learned to tune my own and have found no need to tune it every year for the fun of it.The ability to learn never gets old.
If you need to be reassured that nothing has changed, then there are avenues you can explore that may cost you but then you can have the ability to look at the tune every day if you like.
just saying,,,stop whining, there are more important things in life.
The normal driver would not need a "Life Time" tune unless they are street racing, hauling loads that change every day or something similar. I think BB went above and beyond in even offering this service and should be lauded for providing it as long as they did. I sure would not offer it!
If you find the need to tweak your ride every day, week month or even yearly for any reason then why not put on the big boy suit and invest in the tuning rig and LEARN TO SUPPORT yourself in your endevours.
If it is a case of "I got it so even if I don't need it I want it" maybe you should reevaluate what you need it for.
The BB folks provide a great service, no I am not one of them, I learned to tune my own and have found no need to tune it every year for the fun of it.The ability to learn never gets old.
If you need to be reassured that nothing has changed, then there are avenues you can explore that may cost you but then you can have the ability to look at the tune every day if you like.
just saying,,,stop whining, there are more important things in life.
George B
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I agree with @jwth to a point about the retunes.
I believe a couple free adjustments to a new tune is a good model. I have a few tweeks I want and then I assume I will be good to go.
The issue I have is waiting two weeks for an answer to a question then waiting two weeks again for them to look at a tune. I asked a question with the intention of avoiding a six week wait to adjust a shift point.
Yes, I would like to have HP tuners and do it myself but I went with BBP fir the “convenience”.
I believe a couple free adjustments to a new tune is a good model. I have a few tweeks I want and then I assume I will be good to go.
The issue I have is waiting two weeks for an answer to a question then waiting two weeks again for them to look at a tune. I asked a question with the intention of avoiding a six week wait to adjust a shift point.
Yes, I would like to have HP tuners and do it myself but I went with BBP fir the “convenience”.
the_tool_man
Full Access Member
I'm not sure if your comment was directed at me or not, but...
I was particularly interested in tunes for life because I planned to gradually upgrade my Yukon over a period of years. Not everyone can do every engine mod they want within a single year. Still on my list are headers, exhaust and cam, three years after my tune. Sorry if that doesn't satisfy YOUR idea of a realistic timeline. But, that's reality for me and my priorities.
My position is that they made a promise, which has subsequently been broken. I don't continue to do business with companies that break their promises to customers. Simple as that.
I suspect they've determined that most of their customer base doesn't get additional tunes after a year, and that the impact to their business will be small if those customers walk away. It obviously will help the bottom line for those customers who stay with them, or are new and don't know about what used to be offered. That is entirely within BB's right as a business to do. But it is entirely within a customer's right to respond as they see fit. If you think that's whining, well I couldn't care less.
The DIY option had crossed my mind. I'm as DIY as they come for nearly everything...to a fault, really. I suppose I'll consider that when I do my next upgrade. It would be nice not to be dependent upon any shop at all.
That’s my issue. I was willing to pay for the extra work. It was always the wait that was the problem. But yes, I did end up buying HPTuners and put my “big boy pants” on. I had my tune changed when I addled a cam, then a blower, then changed tire sizes. I was not getting it retuned every day, week, month or year just because I had that option. That would be ridiculous. I did have a couple times I needed them to look at a log file so I could figure out why it was misfiring (intake leak at the blower) and trans was going in limp mode due to an unknown problem with the 3-2 downshift solenoid. I offered to pay $100 each time for that. My only issue with the service now is the fact they changed policy and don't mention the change on their website. I have still been touting the old policy to potential customers without knowing it changed which kind of made me feel like a fool when I was told it wasn’t true and I went to their website to see. This thread is the only way I found out. So my point is if a long-standing and well known company policy has changed, they should let people know on their website. Also, if you bought a tune with the promise if it was for life, it should still be that. Their service is still a value with retunes for a year, it just doesn’t say that in any of their info so people are still buying tunes thinking they’re under the old policy especially if somebody like me is still touting the old policy, sending customers their way.
See my previous post. Maybe it won’t be so quizzical.
Also we just want to point out that so far everyone who has contacted us for a tune update that was previously tuned by us, we have let them know the policy has changed but still did not charge them for the update they are requesting.
