Not very impressive Garmin customer experience

Alfaholic · Occasional Visitor Joined: Mar 29, 2006 Posts: 15

I've had my little i3 since November 2005 and used it extensively in two cars, whilst not perfect it has been a good little unit. It's about to become redundant, however, as I am about to retrofit the standard BMW sat-nav into my new car, but until I get all the bits and get them fitted I will still have to rely on my old little i3.

Unfortunately, over the past 6 months the little clips that hold my i3 onto it's windscreen mount have all started to fall off one-by-one. Now I only have one left and I have to use blu-tac to keep the unit attched to it's mount, which is a less than perfect solution to say the least, especially as it keeps falling off!

Having read much about Garmin's great customer care on this forum I gave them a call today to see if they could help me out. First of all, I was on hold for about 20 minutes before I got through to anyone. Once I did I explained the situation and they said I could return it to be repaired - Great news! However, I would need to include the original reciept. I explained that the unit was purchased from Maplin but that it was a birthday gift from my parents and that I didn't have the reciept. The operative asked if my parents might still have the reciept, but I explained that this was unlikely given that the unit was purchased in November 2005.

At this point the operative said "Oh well, then it's out of warranty anyway", fair enough, but at no point had I suggested that it was still under warranty, I just wanted it fixed. I was told that they could fix it but it would cost £78 +VAT and I would have to pay to return the unit. All told I would be looking at close to £100 to fix a common fault. I was seriously unimpressed, after all, you can buy an i3 new for £99 here:

http://www.motor-world.co.uk/show_prod.php?prod_id=10471[url]

I explained this to the operative as well as the fact that I could get a used on on eBay for £50, but all she could say was "Yeah, but if you sent it back you would get a new one with new maps".

I said I would think about it, which I did, for about 5 seconds. I think I'll be sticking with my rubbish blu-tack solution! I would gladly have paid up to £40 to get this thing sorted out, which I think is ore than fair for a replacement bit of plastic, but I thought the price Garmin quoted to me was a joke and their attitude sucked. I have been a loyal Garmin customer for nearly 18 months and I have recomended the little i3 to a lot of people over this time, particularly as they have such a good aftersales reputation.

Well, they can forget it, if anyone asks me again I'll tell them to buy a TomTom, and, once the BMW gets it's standard fit sat-nav, my little i3 is going in the bin![/url]

tsdinos · Pocket GPS Verifier Joined: Jun 03, 2006 Posts: 119

I'm sorry to hear that, but their request for a receipt does sound reasonable enough, also your unit is 1 and a half year old it is also reasonable to be out of warranty. As for the repair price unfortunately all major companies are like that. My friend bought a sony vaio laptop and broke down luckily one week before the warranty expired!!! She has been told that she would have to pay around £150 for the collection/delivery and repair costs, but since it was under warranty she got it all for free

Alfaholic · Occasional Visitor Joined: Mar 29, 2006 Posts: 15

I'm aware that the unit is out of warranty, what got me was the cost of the repair. Given the fact that these items are so inexpensive it's simply not worth the hassle. Why rip off your existing customers? It doesn't make any sense.

Harveyc · Posted: Mon Mar 12, 2007 9:30 am Post subject:

My general experience of out of warranty claims is a high flat labour fee plus parts and carriage at my expense. To be told that you would receive a new model with new maps sounds more than reasonable so I've got to say that I also find this an unconvincing example of poor customer service.

Also Tomtoms are great units but if you find poor customer service and mounting problems annoying I'm not sure that you should be sending people that way.

PaulB2005 · Posted: Mon Mar 12, 2007 9:35 am Post subject:

I'm afraid i have to agree. £100 for a new unit with v9 maps is great when you consider the cost of the nearest decent rival unit is twice as much. £100 is the current retail price IF you can find an i3....

As the unit is out of warranty why should Garmin absorb the cost for repair?

Also "to fix a common fault." Who said it is a common fault?

Hamie · Regular Visitor Joined: Dec 30, 2003 Posts: 177

sunstrip_steve · Regular Visitor Joined: Mar 12, 2006 Posts: 126

It would be a little difficult to prove:
http://www.dti.gov.uk/consumers/fact-sheets/page24700.html

When you think of the hourly charge for a techy to look at it the £100 is reasonable.

Alfaholic · Occasional Visitor Joined: Mar 29, 2006 Posts: 15

To be honest, if Garmin simply sold me the rear part of the case that includes the mount then I'll gladly buy it from them and repair it myself, it is a very, very simple repair.

The problem is caused by plastic fatigue and that is a manufacturing fault, plain and simple, either that or the clip itself is not up to the job of holding the unit on it's mount.

Either way, I am loathed to pay £100 for a simple repair like this when I could buy a brand new TomTom One V2 for £145.

Meanwhile I still have the unit and i'm still using the blu-tac method which is less tha perfect and have been actively trying to source a faulty unit through eBay in order to swap the rear casing over. it's a less than perfect solution, but much more economically viable than forking out an outrageous £100 to Garmin simply because they refuse to sell spare parts.

Alfaholic · Occasional Visitor Joined: Mar 29, 2006 Posts: 15

JoshT · Posted: Tue Jun 05, 2007 8:56 am Post subject:

[quote="Alfaholic"I don't think I'm the only consumer that would find an extra £45 for the TomTom One, a far superior bit of kit.[/quote]

What makes you think its superior? I had a TT one V2 which quickly went back to Halfords for a refund. Routing was dreadful , POI's in wrong streets or opposite side of the road, roads with no names despite being there for 5 years - I could go on.

For what its worth I don't think £ 100 repair charge for being out of warranty is unreasonable, especially if you get a new unit with V9 maps

PaulB2005 · Posted: Tue Jun 05, 2007 9:38 am Post subject:

Alfaholic · Occasional Visitor Joined: Mar 29, 2006 Posts: 15

@JoshT: Do I think the TT One V2 is superior? Having used both, yes, I do. I prefer the smoother scrolling maps, I prefer the touch screen interface and the one I used (my brother's unit) worked beautifully, no problems at all, plus the windscreen mount is much more sturdy!

Alfaholic · Occasional Visitor Joined: Mar 29, 2006 Posts: 15

Alfaholic · Occasional Visitor Joined: Mar 29, 2006 Posts: 15

Update:

It's been a while, so I figured I'd give Garmin a call again and see what happens. To my surprise, a really lovely customer service agent took the call and was extremely helpful, a totally different experience to my first call to Garmin in March.

First of all, despite not having the yellow slip with the registration code in the box with my i3, the Garmin agent registered my i3 via the "my Garmin" site, making it eligible for V9 Map upgrades, which was very nice of them.

Secondly, they have changed their tune somewhat regarding the repair, they acknowledge that this type of fault can sometimes be an issue and have urged me to send it in. They have given me an RMA number and stated that the maximum they would charge me for the repair is £73.81. However, one of their engineers would call me before any repair was carried out and in cases where they feel the unit has failed due to manufacting fault they normally repair or replace the item for free (hint hint).

Wow.

So, I shall be returning the unit as requested and I now feel quite elated after experiencing the great Garmin customer care that I have heard so much about. Looks like I'll be keeping my little i3 for a while longer!

Now all I need to do is to figure out how to stop the bloody windscreen mount falling off the windscreen all the time...

Wink

MaFt · Posted: Tue Jun 05, 2007 12:06 pm Post subject:

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