I have been emailing Bill this morning about my particular situation working towards a resolution. He has offered a full refund which solves part of the problem. I am still left with a so-so tune, and the prospect of a 4 hour round-trip to Wilmington to reflash to OEM. All in all, not the end of the world, especially given where I thought I was a few hours ago, if all goes as planned.

vMax will have its work cut out to regain the trust of this community but taking care of those affected will be a good step in the right direction. To this day I think they do have tuning skills but need to work on "professionalizing" the business. In today's warp-speed world, a lack of communication is a killer.

Thank you to all the Forum members for their suggestions and advice. Let's keep posting our experiences, both good and bad, so vMax will have the opportunity to win back our trust.

 

Can you not flash back to OEM sitting on your driveway?

 

That's a very poor resolution IMO. vMax should both refund your money and perform the originally promised tune. That would be the kind of customer service that builds loyalty and promotes the brand.

Assuming you would want that of course. If not, vMax should take care of everything required to get your car back to stock.

 

+1

 

In a perfect world, you are right but I do not have the stomach to be a guinea pig again. I am in Raleigh, the box is in Wilmington (2 hours each way) and vMax is in California so the pragmatic approach is schlep my way to Wilmington, have Bill on the phone and do the OEM reflash then. Unless there is a way to do the reflash without the programming slave and laptop, that is my only option.

 

Since your car has already been reflashed, the tune fingerprint is already there and detectable even if you do flash it back to OEM. Thus, you might as well go through with the tune and enjoy the extra power, since any warranty complications will be the same regardless.

See posts #8 and #23 below on detectibility, which is about as definitive as it gets.

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/f...dealer-156909/

 

Since you cannot hide from the DTC, why not just go to Leith in Cary and have them do a factory flash. They must have that in their system.

Larry

 

Certainly a possibility but I would prefer not to advertise the fact that the car had a tune. Perhaps once I actually speak with Bill in person, then I will have a better idea on a course of action.

 

After talking to Bill today I have been offered a refund if I do not like the tune he sends me and he put it in writing to PayPal so I am going to overnight my computer today and he is overnighting it back to me on Thursday I will Post up the dyno results that are going to be done at Dyno tune motorsports in Columbus Ohio a well respected tuner I already have the pre-Dyno from last night when I'm home I'll scan them and put them on here Bill this is your chance to redeem yourself
My car is a 2015 base and bill already sent my pulley I just verified that the shop received it with my own eyes when I picked up my computer

 

If you read post #23 in the link above, you would have learned that it doesn't matter. Everytime the car is plugged in at a dealership, even during your required annual service, the code indicating an ECM reflashed is automatically sent to JLR for their records. This happens whether the dealer knows it or not.

And you need to take your car in annually for that service to keep your warranty intact.

 

Actually I don't think you have to take your car to a dealer to keep your warranty intact --I think you can take it to any mechanic -- don't think it had to be a dealer ????

 

No one knew prior to Cambo's post, but for the people on the sidelines that
are still saying "not good enough", put yourself in VMAX's place.

"Take care of a serious family medical emergency, or go back and forth
about something that is just not important right now."

What would your choice be?

 

 

Foosh, I understand all of that, but there is a difference between telling the dealer you had a bad tune and need a reflash vs. an innocuous message sent to JLR during a regular service call. Furthermore, IF I had confidence that I would get a good tune, then I would certainly go ahead and do it but remember, I already went through an ineffective tune once. Plus, I don't want to be sitting in Wilmington waiting for a response from Bill in California. Been there, done that and it wasn't fun.

 

Here is a pic of my car that is getting the tune hope you like it

All this has been a rocky start to me joining the forum but hope it gets better from here on out the other jag forum has no traffic at least f-type people are on here to talk with and it looks like everyone has each other's backs

 

It makes no difference, and that's not exactly an "innocuous message" sent to JLR. It's a message that says non-OEM programming detected. Honestly, the vast majority of dealers really don't care. They are generally more loyal to their customers.

As a result, most dealers would like to honor all warranty repairs, even given clear evidence a problem was cause by an after-market modification. The complication is that JLR must approve major warranty repairs or the dealer doesn't get paid.

Look at it this way, you can avoid the dealer for all your annual services if you want to avoid JLR finding that code, but if you ever have any kind of a warranty claim, engine-related or not, you're going to have to go to the dealer for a warranty repair, and that code is already stored in your car's systems.

 

LOL, OK but where do have to go for warranty repairs? And good luck showing up with a melted-down engine in your first-ever service visit at a Jaguar dealer.

 

I think one of us must be speaking Chinese. I have no intention of avoiding the dealership for service and went into the tune with eyes wide open regarding the warranty concerns. My main points are 1) rather not advertise the fact it was tuned and potentially set off some alarms and 2) I know the OEM tune is reliable but I have lost confidence in a vMax tune and am leaning strongly towards opting for the safe course of action. Hopefully this clarifies my position why I am leaning towards just OEM vs. a tune, even if it was free.

 

I don't think it's me speaking Chinese. You don't have to "advertise" you have a tune. It's already done, even if/when you return it stock. The code is now forever associated with your car. At some point, you will be at the dealer, and that code will be sent to JLR.

However, I completely understand and respect your decision to go back to stock. I could even see that there may be some advantages of doing it at a dealer.

 

Maybe this is what I am missing, but how do I go to the dealer and ask for an OEM reflash without giving a reason such as my car is F***ed up because my tune was ineffective? Not being facitious but can I just go to my dealer and say, "hey, reflash me and don't ask why"?