Garmin Service - My 2 cents worth

By the tone of many of the posts recently, the casual visitor to this newsgroup
MAY have gotten the impression that Garmin is a bully, with lousy after-sales
service, and sometimes inferior products. I think it is time to add my 2 cents
worth to the debate.....

I have had a Garmin iQue 3600 for about 8 months. I LOVE it - it's a natural
"need-to-have" for a gadget junkie and GPS phreak like myself. Last week I
decided to invest in the newly released MapSource City Select North America Ver.
7.
I installed the DVD (supplied by my local dealer) and initiated the registration
process. After HOURS of trying to obtain an unlock - both through the Mapsource
utility AND online at Garmin - all totally without success - I called technical
support - dreading
the call and what I imagined might be Garmin's tech support (my first experience
with them, since everything had worked without issue whatsoever).

The technical support rep I spoke with was polite, listened, and when he
couldn't immediately resolve the issue (turned out to be a mis-print on my
registration sheet), we IMMEDIATELY started a new registration for me, gave me
the WORKING unlock and
sent me a confirming email - all while we were still in conversation.

He took the time to listen; he responded in a professional manner (NEVER
condescending at all!); and he solved the issue.

A tip of the old baseball cap to Garmin and their tech support!

And to all casual visitors here, a suggestion - don't lambaste them from
hearsay... my experience was VERY good!

My 2 cents worth......

VH

When I called with I question I go the same response. Did not like the
answer, but that reflects a busines decision not to offer certain features
on new models.

I called Garmin twice last week. One tech was very obnoxious an he
knew less about the unit and the software than I do. His silent
responses made me think that he had hung up on me, or was about to do
so, several times. I called again and got a tech who was great.

z1307z@yahoo.com wrote:


Slight change of exact topic: Twice in the last month I sent email to
Garmin tech support with a question. In each case I got an answer within
two days. One was with respect to my order for a free City Select
update. I was told it was an back order and "here is the unlock code."
The other was a question about battery life and was answered
satisfactorily.

--
To send me email, replace deadspam.com by acm.org

I sent in a 6 year old yellow Etrex, no receipt, where the rubber was
getting loose , and a 3-4 year old Etrex Vista, no receipt, with loose
rubber and streaks on the display, asking for a repair quote.


I started getting impatient after 5 weeks with no answer, but a few days
later I received a repaired Etrex and a new Vista including accessories, in
original box, FOR FREE.


I live in Denmark, bought the Vista used here, bought the Etrex new in
Singapore.


Poul B-H