darkhorizon
New member
As a few of you know, I have always hated on HPTuners as a tuning product for the FWD v6 platform (for reasons of economy, function, features, etc).. But today I bring a new complaint to the table.
I have owned a HPTuner for about a year now as i have recently been into more and more late model GM cars with V8's and boost... But other than (attempting to) tune my trailblazer and checking over a few other cars that I determined would not be worth tuning, I never actually flashed a car with it. My reasoning for that was honestly rooted in the quirky disconnects and random errors the hardware would throw ever sense I installed it. I would say that my laptop was just a old junker with a half broken USB port or something, but it worked fine most of the time.
TLDR: I used it a bit, never was confident enough to flash anything because it would flake out alot.
It got to the point where I was just tired of dealing with the disconnects and I went back to using DHP full time, even for v8 stuff. I get a line on new PCM/TCM for my TBSS so I can tune it and now the stupid thing will not connect at all to my laptop... other laptops would not even pretend to see it connected.
Contacted support, and I get a giant pile of BS to deal with. Support has me running around to different computers and installing remote support software so i can plug this stupid thing in and see that it doesnt work... 3 hours of my time later they believe me and tell me to ship it in.
A week later, they say it arrived to one place, but they had to send it somewhere else for "further testing" (why I didnt send it to this place first IDK). After a few days there, they reported that my hpt "melted to goo", and that not even 9 months after I buy the thing they tell me to go pound sand or pay them $78. I had no other options (I offered to repair myself if they provided parts), they also offered no explaination as to why it failed or how to prevent it in the future. I suggested that I see no reason it would just start working great when I reinstall it on my laptop.. They offered zero help on that topic other than saying I shouldnt use my laptop with a power inverter plugged into it (which is crazy because i used my DHP for years with a power inverter), mind you I read and heeded their warning on their website that says not to use it with a power inverter and made it very clear that I did not use a power inverter. It also seems that battery chargers are bad for HPTuners, but again I never used a battery charger with it (again, strange because DHP instructions from 05 suggested you hook a battery charger up for every read/flash procedure, but again I never used one in this case).
TLDR: HPT said my tuner was melted due to my negligence, I assured them I didnt do anything they suggested would kill it. They charged me alot of money to fix their junk.
Bill/Ken: If you read this review, I understand your view as a vendor and how pain in the ass some customers are but your service on this did not leave me very happy, mostly due to the fact i was treated as an idiot and blamed me for the failure. Also IMO, the excuse that "I caused a surge" is also crap due to the fact that I have done horrid things to the $12 bluetooth torque scanner I have via battery chargers without problems... also my DHP equipment has never failed in the 6 years I have used it and i connect a battery charger 95% of the time I flash it. I suggest you look at the protection you have on this hardware before you go blaming users for blowing it up.
I have owned a HPTuner for about a year now as i have recently been into more and more late model GM cars with V8's and boost... But other than (attempting to) tune my trailblazer and checking over a few other cars that I determined would not be worth tuning, I never actually flashed a car with it. My reasoning for that was honestly rooted in the quirky disconnects and random errors the hardware would throw ever sense I installed it. I would say that my laptop was just a old junker with a half broken USB port or something, but it worked fine most of the time.
TLDR: I used it a bit, never was confident enough to flash anything because it would flake out alot.
It got to the point where I was just tired of dealing with the disconnects and I went back to using DHP full time, even for v8 stuff. I get a line on new PCM/TCM for my TBSS so I can tune it and now the stupid thing will not connect at all to my laptop... other laptops would not even pretend to see it connected.
Contacted support, and I get a giant pile of BS to deal with. Support has me running around to different computers and installing remote support software so i can plug this stupid thing in and see that it doesnt work... 3 hours of my time later they believe me and tell me to ship it in.
A week later, they say it arrived to one place, but they had to send it somewhere else for "further testing" (why I didnt send it to this place first IDK). After a few days there, they reported that my hpt "melted to goo", and that not even 9 months after I buy the thing they tell me to go pound sand or pay them $78. I had no other options (I offered to repair myself if they provided parts), they also offered no explaination as to why it failed or how to prevent it in the future. I suggested that I see no reason it would just start working great when I reinstall it on my laptop.. They offered zero help on that topic other than saying I shouldnt use my laptop with a power inverter plugged into it (which is crazy because i used my DHP for years with a power inverter), mind you I read and heeded their warning on their website that says not to use it with a power inverter and made it very clear that I did not use a power inverter. It also seems that battery chargers are bad for HPTuners, but again I never used a battery charger with it (again, strange because DHP instructions from 05 suggested you hook a battery charger up for every read/flash procedure, but again I never used one in this case).
TLDR: HPT said my tuner was melted due to my negligence, I assured them I didnt do anything they suggested would kill it. They charged me alot of money to fix their junk.
Bill/Ken: If you read this review, I understand your view as a vendor and how pain in the ass some customers are but your service on this did not leave me very happy, mostly due to the fact i was treated as an idiot and blamed me for the failure. Also IMO, the excuse that "I caused a surge" is also crap due to the fact that I have done horrid things to the $12 bluetooth torque scanner I have via battery chargers without problems... also my DHP equipment has never failed in the 6 years I have used it and i connect a battery charger 95% of the time I flash it. I suggest you look at the protection you have on this hardware before you go blaming users for blowing it up.
