OVTune/VFTuner Extortion

Stock would be better. Forced induction will never be fire and forget.

 

While adding a blower is fairly complicated it shouldn't require the customer go through this level of BS. The process could have been way way better for the customer but instead it would seem that wasn't one of their considerations.

 

Just a consideration - The old original dongle (OBD device connector) likely does not have a serial number on it and the Orange dongle (OBD device connector) that came with the Magnuson SC does. Always use the Orange device (connect it even when you download and launch the software) and register it with Mat. The Orange device has a serial number and is what the new VFT software uses for licensing. Magnuson provided a Master Key to all purchasers of their SC (if you did not get this contact Magnuson) - once Mat converted to the serial number system (which is on the device and can be read by the software) the Master Key went away. Prior to the VFT software update Mat was tracking the Master Key to the Device Serial number so many who were updating were automatically saved on the server and identified by their OBD device serial number. GL.

 

Been an OVTune user since the early days I think it was 1.3 or something when I first paid the $700, this was way before VFTuner was around. The reason Mat got away with charging people $700 back then was because there was no competition on the market at the time. Now that there's other tunes available there is no way I would pay the $700 again for OVTune especially when there are much better options for half the price nowadays.

Their customer support was terrible for me personally and Mat got away with a lot of bad business practices simply because there was no other options at the time. A lot of people had heated arguments with him in that dumpster fire of a TW thread which amounted to 3000+ pages and it was exhausting to have to continue to follow the progress through that many pages and catch up and the company management was very sub par. I personally know a friend who made an order and Mat screwed up his order and shipped his kit to a wrong address on the other side of the country and was told tough luck after weeks of no reply so he had to do a PayPal charge back which dinged Mat's PayPal record which he got pissy about openly in the TW thread. I guess that is what happens when you are a 1 man small time business and blows up exponentially in a market with little to no competition, he just couldn't handle the volume (there must have been thousands of orders).

That being said, the tune was good at the time back in 2017-2018 but today the other tunes blow OVTune out of the water in terms of drivability and performance gains and overall feel improvement of the lack of balls this motor is plagued with. I do remember Mat was working on a twin turbo kit for this truck but I'm not sure whatever happened with that mess or if they're still even around. Sounds like he cashed out and disappeared because there is no longer support for OVTune AFAIK.

 

After smoldering a bit Ive given some more thought to it and yeah I'm unhappy with the process, it would seem that my re-flashing regimen has mirrored a bunch of the updates on OVTunes end which has caused a ton of work/confusion on my end. I have two dongles, one from OVT (OG Tune $80 to use with VFT Lite) and Maggys Dongle (VFT Lite BUT used a key at the time install vs Dongle Serial?), both are throwing a license error because they are using dongle serial #'s implemented since I flashed with the Maggy dongle setup. Im sure some of you don't have work, school, kids, wife, and sports, etc... I do and I care about flashing the fuc#ing thing simple and reliable like a toaster and not think about it again. Better communication for those of us who don't spend time hanging out on the OVT forums or simple grandfathering on the back-end DB to where the customer didn't even notice could have gone a long way.

 

I agree. A simple email would have covereded everyone for the dongle exchange, even the customers that don't live on a forum. OVT had all our emails, I don't understand why he didn't do that, it isn't difficult.

 

To some degree, i think tune buyer's expectations on product performance/ customer service are jaded by the support they get from a fully established and staffed business. These tune "companies" ain't Amazon. I envision some guy working out of their parent's basement when I hear folks talking about these tune developers. Prove me wrong!

 

How?

 

Exactly!

 

I never bought from them cause I couldn't get passed the shady shit they done to other forums/platforms...before they ever came here.

 

Aside for the 3rd Gen Tacoma, I use HPTuners for every other Toyota vehicle I tune. HP Tuners is a legit corporation with hundreds of legit shops and tuners using their software.

https://www.hptuners.com/news/

 

I don't think that saying you use HPTuners software will change his opinion that the people here offering tune services like us are people in their parents' basements.

 

I think he is saying both the tune “companies” and tuners are amateurs. While VF Tuner is less mature, it’s still well beyond “amateur” status. He’s entitled to his opinions, even though he’s clearly wrong

 

Why not? If you don't change anything no reason you should need to retune it.

 

He was "kicked off" because everyone wanted everything NOW, and people got nasty. Eventually he had enough and got nasty back
at them, which caused the snowflakes (god, I hate that term) to get butt-hurt and complain to the mods.

We knew the dongle was going away a LONG time ago. Why didn't you get in on the free upgrade back then, when you could mail in your
dongle and get a license key?

Most of us have had zero issues dealing with Mat. He has been evolving his business over time. The only thing that bugs me a bit is that
he let his ultimate tune die off to concentrate on developing the software to let others create tunes. I would have liked to have seen what
he came up with tune-wise.

I have to agree that the cost of tunes has become laughable. There is no reason to charge more than $100 for a tune. Once the
initial research is done, the money will roll in with zero effort on the developers part. Insert the "free market", "if people will pay", "yada yada yada"
comments here. $350+ is insane for a tune, unless someone is installing it for you and taking on some liability for issues that may arise.

 

To bring this full circle, Magnuson got back to me to explain that I had received my second dongle right before they Maggy/Mat/OVTune/VFTuner switched to the serial #'s. When it came time to switch from OV to VF Mat chose to leave the customer hanging instead of taking care of it on the backend like a real software shop would have done but when has OV ever really cared about the stupid customers.

 

Man I've never had any issues with vf tuner ever !!!!

 

IDK about what is happening lately, but I have loved OV tune/vf tuner.
It completely changed the way the truck drove (in a massively good way)

I am now on KDM tune and its 100% worth it. I would contact them...

 

Obtaining a tune is not the complaint that this individual has.