wayne613

The backstory:
Get an X3 some years ago now, get Bama tunes.
Works and updates fine until 1.2.143, it then craps out completely.
Go through the support motion steps, it has to go back to them for a bench flash.
Custom tune is still on the car. I explain this, before, during, and after.
I get it back, no stock tune anymore, which is fine as I did save everything; or so I thought.

I send emails about this off and on, no response.

Fast forward to last night:
I finally get the motivation to follow through on getting this working again.
I call, wait for 40mins waiting in cue, try email again, online, neither of the later are responded to.
Finally get someone, they grab my saved files to re-make the stock flash file.
I call them back today at 10:20am, wait another 40mins in cue on the phone, get someone, they look me up, get the recreated file connect to the device again and put it on.
I flash it.
My odometer comes up as "-"'s, car won't start with any of my keys.
Call again. Wait another 40mins.
Go though everything again, flashed again to try. Same result.
Try to recreate another from a dump file. They'll get back to me..
They call back an hour plus later.
Same result.

Now:
I'm told the PCM is basically bricked. It needs to be re-flashed via the VCM/IDS tool that usually only a dealer has. It's now near 3pm.

To top everything off I'm told it's not their fault, so missing work today, having to have the car towed, sit on my phone for hours going through all this, wait for someone qualified to do this at the dealer, then pay for all of that, along with probably a rental car since my only car is now a paperweight..

Awesome job guys, the tech guys I got were fairly nice, but overall, to date I'm just absolutely livid at SCT as a whole.

No tech manager was supposedly in. So the tech I spoke to is going to "email" him the information as to my situation. Seriously?

JCON

I am def going to stop recommending SCT as it seems they are "bricking" more and more PCM's these days with failed firmware updates. Haven't heard of this issue with any Diablo tuners.

wayne613

Update:

Got the local ford dealership to re-flash, with towing($65) comes to just under $200. Stock 2 keys put back in, etc..

They "might" cover the flashing portion once I give them the receipt, but doubt that'll cover the towing, much less anything further..

To top off, after this, it's giving an "error 1034: download failed"-blah-blah-blah, after it wouldn't hold any custom tunes, and got a full format and reload.

So, they want $65 to replace the board in the unit once I ship it back to them on my dime for a second time. Heh, not.

Mike@DiabloSport

Man, sorry to hear this.

With any flash tuner, there is always the risk of something going wrong, and I'm sure they, like us, do everything to make sure the tool can recover anything it messes up, but its not always possible.

Hopefully you can get it sorted out.
if you decide you need a different device, let us know, I'll be glad to answer any questions for you

Thanks

wayne613

Things going wrong happen. But you do support your product, yes?

I've used it perhaps 5 times since purchase, it's been sent for diagnosis already. Were I assured this is just a fluke they'd pay for, I'd have been fine. I was given a maybe, a sorry, left to tow it off and have it fixed; in addition the unit itself is a paperweight that is unsellable and unusable.

The actual customer support staff that talk with those that have an issue were great, but the overall backing of this is lackluster at best.

Mike@DiabloSport

In a situation like this we would have issued an overnight call tag, gotten the PCM and tool here, repaired/reflashed the PCM, and sent it back overnight, and we'd test the tool to make sure it did not lead to the issue and repair or replace it as necessary. Fortunately this is not something that happens very often

wayne613

That's reasonable. All I got was an apology, and a call come monday after 3 days of hoofin' it; after it had already been towed away.

SCT and I are definitely parting ways, it would just be nice to get at least some money from this fiasco back, and be able to sell this tuner off. But it looks like I'm just going to be shipping this back to them with a nasty-gram and call it a day. Leaving my BBB complaint open.

I will keep you guys in mind for the future once this fiasco is over.

Mike@DiabloSport

FWIW, Bama now offers the inTune, with their custom tuning package, let me know if you have any questions moving forward.

Thanks

SXGT

if its free tunes for life, why dont they just offer a free stock tune to download?

JCON

AM doesn't do stock tunes. I believe SCT tried to rebuild the stock tune their update corrupted and were unsuccessful.