Is this a support forum or is it not?

[TBSS]

I must say that I am quite alarmed by what seems to be intolerance toward people asking what appears to be very legitimate questions. The manner in which this intolerance is shown is by locking threads that are asking for information related to when product is shipping, accompanied by instructions to "take it to email."

First of all, on its face, it makes no sense to tell numerous people to send numerous emails to "sales" when the issue could be more easily and efficiently addressed in a forum that everyone reads. If there are problems with shipping product, then say so. If there are multiple problems, then say so. If you made a mistake in promising a date, and now that date is now a month behind, then say so.

I think the part that this company is missing is that if you have a problem and you don't communicate it, you then have two problems, one of which is unnecessary and completely self-inflicted.

As someone who has yet to order an LS2 tuning product, I will say that this behavior on the part of company personnel and forum support staff is not going unnoticed. The people who have written are not being disrespectful or unreasonable, they are simply asking for information. By locking threads instead of answering the questions raised, you are making people less comfortable with your organization. I hope you see this.

[Bill@HPTuners]

The threads that were locked were locked for a reason...the questions were either answered or answered repeatedly. The one that I just recently Locked I did so because the customer was basically asking if hptuners could ship his out overnight or 2 day express which really(obviously) should be handled directly with them rather then on a forum. If you have any further questions feel free to ask away or pm me alot of stuff the mods can answer for you but to hear the same question(s) over again isnt productive.

Thanks
Bill

[Keith@HPTuners]

Technically, its not really a support forum.

Our primary method for sales and support are our sales and support e-mail addresses.

This forums purpose is for general VCM Suite questions.

Typically we ask customers to e-mail us the question direct because we have a lot of information setup for a response that answers there question as its typically a question we receive often.

Plus, when they e-mail us, and we reply.. they can then read through the information we have provided and immediately ask a follow up question that we will receive rather quickly, and respond to much faster than we would through this forum.

So, primary is still our e-mail addresses..

Sales for sales, orders, upgrades, and shipping.
Support for all software, hardware, and technical issues.

Then, the forum is our second method of "support".

Third is the forums PM system.

Fourth would be other forums.

Hope this helps clarify the support process.

[S2H]

this is definately a type of support...but its is not direct sales support or tech support...
this forum is more along the lines of friendly advise and a place to learn how to tune using HP Tuners Software and Hardware

True Sales questions should go to [email protected]
and true tech support/hardware/software issues shoudl go to [email protected]

many people mistake this forum as the customer service department....
while we try to help out customers..we are in no way an official customer service department here... your true customer service department is thru the e-mails listed above...

many of the most helful people on here are guys like me that work a normal job(or some like me..not so normal)and we hang out on here as we like to help others with their tuning questions..
notcie the majority of the forum sections are devoted to specific tuning areas..and a small section is for general questions and issues and bugs...
think of the issues and bugs section as a way to post if you find a problem so that others wont think its something they are doing and go nuts chasing an issue like a font that doesnt show up correctly in all windows themes

the problems that we find are usualy that people try to make this forum their main line of support instead of going to the e-mails which are the proper line of support...and when they dont get the "you are our #1 priority" response here on the forum...they get mad and start barking out of turn....
and they get mad at moderators who all say teh exact same answer...e-mail sales
and they expect moderators to do something like go pack their order and ship it to them...when we have nothing to do with the internal workings of HPT...thoug we do get clued in *sometimes* so that we can better answer questions when they are asked on here....

I just try to tell people to think of the forum in this manner...
"This forum is a tuning support forum for HP Tuners software/hardware"
meaning we try to help out with your tuning needs...

questions like "did my order get shiped" are very obviously direct sales questions and shoud lgo to the sales e-mail address
questions like "how do I get my LTFT's in line" are very obviously tuning questions that should be here on the forum.

the other reason to send an e-mail to sales or support is because many people are a special case...something wierd or not the normal...things like they changed addresses or need it shipped to their work address, or have to have it shipped next day air....
soem are exchanges..some are new..some are purchasing 8 bazillion credits along with their order..some are straight forward and just ordered a PRO USB and want the thing just to show up UPS ground

also when you e-mail it you get a faster response as these guys check their mails often....and they each handle different aspects..keith handles some areas, ken handles others and chris handles stuff that teh other 2 dont touch...all 3 of them ave their own "departments" that they take care of...

theres no way to generically post to cover all the people and all their different situations....
one person lives in USA...one in aussie land...both have totally different shipping needs...I cant say mail it to HPTuners USA address for everybody as this would be an arm and a leg for aussies + the time to get it thru customs...there would be 2 stinking weeks of wait to get it here and get it back....that would suck


again...think of this forum more as tuning support as thats what most of us do on here

and he info most of us can give you is "I do not know the status of your oders as I am not an employee of HPT..please e-mail sales to get the information you are looking for. Thank you for being understanding and let us know how we might be able to help you with your tuning needs"

[james007]

regardless what type of forum this "technically" is, it's very important to new and old users, current customers and future ! Without this forum many of us would NOT be customers at all !!! And every individual that posts a question deserves to get an answer, regardless of how many times the question was asked ! If you dont know, shouldn't you ASK ?????



just my opinion.....

[Chris@HPTuners]

regardless what type of forum this "technically" is, it's very important to new and old users, current customers and future ! Without this forum many of us would NOT be customers at all !!! And every individual that posts a question deserves to get an answer, regardless of how many times the question was asked ! If you dont know, shouldn't you ASK ?????

just my opinion.....

of course you should ask, but don't be surprised if the question has been answered many times before (often within the very same thread) if you get a short answer of what you should do.

we monitor *and* track our email just about every minute of the working (and non-working) day, we do not monitor the forum as vigorously nor is it tracked.

Chris...

[Cyclone Chris]

The threads that were locked were locked for a reason...the questions were either answered or answered repeatedly. The one that I just recently Locked I did so because the customer was basically asking if hptuners could ship his out overnight or 2 day express which really(obviously) should be handled directly with them rather then on a forum. If you have any further questions feel free to ask away or pm me alot of stuff the mods can answer for you but to hear the same question(s) over again isnt productive.

Thanks
Bill

Well, thats probably me that you locked the thread on. The reason I posted on here is because, I needed to give information to my tuner on when I am expecting HPT. As you said on there, I had emailed Keith at 4:08pm and had not received a reply, and it 4:53am now. I needed the info quick, due to scheduling reasons. I'm sorry that I can't clear my schedule whenever I deem necessary, but our military squadron requires a 2 week notice before, I can take off. Geez, all I am asking for for some decent Customer Service.

[Bill@HPTuners]

Well, thats probably me that you locked the thread on. The reason I posted on here is because, I needed to give information to my tuner on when I am expecting HPT. As you said on there, I had emailed Keith at 4:08pm and had not received a reply, and it 4:53am now. I needed the info quick, due to scheduling reasons. I'm sorry that I can't clear my schedule whenever I deem necessary, but our military squadron requires a 2 week notice before, I can take off. Geez, all I am asking for for some decent Customer Service.

Again thats fine...I locked it mainly because I didn't want to see the thread get out of hand...it was a new post which means if Ken/Keith/Chris are browsing the forums they will see the post just fine. They are admins which means if they think it is a post they need to respond to on this board they couldve reopened it. But in the end it seemed like all you wanted was the pkg to be overnighted which again should be handled(imo) on a case by case basis privately.

[WorkingManPerf.]

Well here's a breif view of my email records between HPT and I.

me: "just seeking some info on my order . here's my paypal info"

keith: "What info are you looking for?"

me: "get my old cable?? shipping time frame?? my order status?? Thanks"

keith: "orders are scheduled to ship out the 15'th."


Something called infomation about my order not included here. nothing???

so I go here, again nothing useful

where do I go now since there is no phone#

dick with people's money, people are going to get mad very quickly. simply put.

[Casey]

Well here's a breif view of my email records between HPT and I.

me: "just seeking some info on my order . here's my paypal info"

keith: "What info are you looking for?"

me: "get my old cable?? shipping time frame?? my order status?? Thanks"

keith: "orders are scheduled to ship out the 15'th."


Something called infomation about my order not included here. nothing???

so I go here, again nothing useful

where do I go now since there is no phone#

dick with people's money, people are going to get mad very quickly. simply put.

Hey guys take it easy. We plainly stated these were pre orders.
With that in mind it's not easy to answer over 1000 pre order emails of "where is my order and when will it ship". The pre order response was somewhat overwhelming.

We have elected to skip the email tracking numbers as this would take even more time. We only have 16 hours a day to work on this stuff, and there has to come a point where we call it quits for the day.

We try our very best to answer every single email, and our mods try and help everybody on this forum. With everybody being human, there is bound to be a few mistakes.

HP Tuners understands your frustrations and asks that you bear with us a little bit.


Thanks guys,

-Ken

[chrisj6]

Can't we just all be excited like a kid on Christmas when it shows up on our doorstep!

Chris

[SS-Scotty]

I was telling my wife that....
only I was describing it as an early Birthday present seeing as my birthday is just in a few days

cant wait till it shows up

[12secSS]

Some of you guys need to take it easy on the HPTuners staff. The are enthusiast like us, but decided to take their passion for (tuning) cars farther then most of us have balls to do. I commend them on what they are doing for us, as well as I understand the difficulties with dealing with late vendor shipments, demanding consumers, and a very competitive market. No one is trying to swindle (or dick) anyone out of money ... I am sure ALL of you have been in HPT shoes with your business. It happens and it is sometimes out of your control, but it is how the situation is handle to satisfy the majority of consumer, not just a handfull. That is what they are trying to accomplish, saitsfy the majority. Please be patient and let them do what is needed to ship out these units. Most of us are happily waiting (in line) for our units. For christ's sake, it is only a tuning solution ... not like your loved one's life depended on it.

[LosLS2]

I got mine. It shipped out yesterday from Florida so it was one day ground to me.

[WorkingManPerf.]

my life does depend on it, I need my tuning fix. been close to 8 months now. aaahhhh. need to tune asap.

Plus have grumpy customers of my own, waiting the hptuners solution to come to my doorstep.

[S2H]

I got mine. It shipped out yesterday from Florida so it was one day ground to me.

now...was that worth all the whining and complaining........

[LosLS2]

now...was that worth all the whining and complaining........

Yes. I hope that by others seeing that one has actually arrived, they will be put at ease.

[S2H]

my life does depend on it, I need my tuning fix. been close to 8 months now. aaahhhh. need to tune asap.

Plus have grumpy customers of my own, waiting the hptuners solution to come to my doorstep.

I have a local track day that has a bunch of prepaid customers for 8 guaranteed hours of private party bliss on the 11th...
out of the 100 or so people that paid to make this happen....20-25 of them are LS2 GTO's and LS7 vettes.....and many of those guys wanted tuning done before that day....
I have several of them already prepaid...and I've had to push back the tunes till my interface arrives....
this stuff is paying my rent and feeding my family(me,the wife,an 8yr old little girl, a 5yr old boy, and a 6 month old) while I am waiting for more tour work.....which thankfully looks like its going to happen here later here in march...

but you dont see me bitchig and moaning on here about the interface not being here yet...I kow mine will make it...and I know its probably already on its way....so I just sit patiently....its coming...you will also see yours soon...

and to the guy who once asked if his could have the burrito warmer option...I think you need to go buy your supplies now

[firebird380hp]

I can understand kinda what some are saying I have gotten help a little on here just about tuning.....but also kinda got a couple smart remarks...... like one said if you dont know you have to ask someone and where better to ask a question but on the board where the people are that sold you there equipment.The only thing I'm saying is and by no means not mad or trying to start anything is........if I ask a question at least give me the respect to answer it straight not some duh........ I am old school and learning about this computer age stuff and would just like to know... I'm only 56 but this stuff is new to me but very interesting. But I love my hp....... and have gotten help from Keith many times.

Thxs. Robert

[Bill@HPTuners]

also remember too that this is the internet so what you might consider a smart remark might be tongue in cheek on the other end of the monitor...sometimes there might not be a smiley for the moment