Garmin warranty. 8 weeks and counting!

[pletharoe]

I'm here to rant about the warranty on my Garmin Edge 800. It has been away for repairs for over 8 weeks and the distributor keeps telling the shop that it will be back "in the next few days". I've emailed garmin to ask for an update and got no response.

Is this the level of service I should expect from garmin?

Not happy!

[FIJIGabe]

my friend sent his unit directly to garmin. had it back 2 weeks later (Garmin 510). Not sure what the issue is with yours, but i would definitely call Garmin directly.

[astranoc]

+1 on calling garmin. I had to ask for warranty twice with them, and both times had the unit back before the completion of two weeks.

[kode54]

i've always dealt directly with Garmin regardless of where i purchased it. had a few issues...the rubber rain cover tore off once. i was sent a new one with 4 days. also, after my warranty expired by 3 months, my display went wonky...called Garmin and they sent me out a refurb replacement...no charge. Garmin has always been responsive to my issues starting with an early Edge to the Edge 800.

since you already sent yours in...you have to deal with that point person now. at least next time (if there is one), go direct to Garmin.

[pletharoe]

I just called Venus in customer service who was very helpful. I'm pretty sure it's just the Hong Kong distributor being lazy. The bike shop says that they always take a long time, they think that the distributor waits to get a lot of warranty units before sending them all off for repair at the same time.

[djconnel]

Garmin customer service is excellent, in my experience, but call them directly. Unfortunately I have a lot of experience with them, having broke mounting tabs off Edge 500's more times than I care to count.

[Razor]

+1 on calling garmin. I had to ask for warranty twice with them, and both times had the unit back before the completion of two weeks.

I called Garmin directly, then sent back my 500 last week. The unit was 1 year past warranty, it is being exchanged (for $95) for a refurbished unit (will be getting it back tomorrow).

[drmutley]

Deal directly with Garmin (not where u bought it)... And ring them as they don't seem to respond timely to emails...

[Frankie - B]

Since you don't have your location shown we can't see what Garmin service center isn't responding to emails. The service center in Holland responds to emails and calls prompt.

[audiojan]

My wife's 310XT cracked (without any reason for it... looked like a stress crack). She called Garmin and they sent her a new one within 3 days with a pre-paid return shipping slip for her cracked one. Call Garmin directly and talk to them, they were very helpful for us!

[bura]

Since you don't have your location shown we can't see what Garmin service center isn't responding to emails. The service center in Holland responds to emails and calls prompt.

pletharoe wrote coming from Hong Kong.

So what happened?
Interested to know if you have received your unit.

[djm]

I've had plenty of Garmin warranty cases. They have always been very easy to deal with. Last time they replaced my 800 in four days. However, the need to replace all of these units shows how poor the quality really is. If the warranty service wasn't as good as it is I'd never buy a Garmin again. They are just too expensive.

I've dealt with Garmin Norway.

[FIJIGabe]

I think you're making a big jump. Garmin sells more units than anyone else, which will necessarily make them have more warranty claims. I don't think there's any indication of poor quality in their builds, just the nature of manufacturing. I've got two 500's, and an 810, and no "quality" issues. Broken tabs can come from a variety of sources, including crashes or mounts. In my opinion, rather than make bones about whether to warranty your item, it seems like Garmin would rather err on the side of caution and warranty the item out.

[ave]

>However, the need to replace all of these units shows how poor the quality really is.
Quite the opposite. I crashed with it, I dropped it, and it's still going strong. Far from poor quality.

[djm]

ave: Sure, its properties as regards shock resistance might be good. Not so good when it comes to humidity such as sweat and road spray in my experience.

Oh.. I forgot, once I dropped my Garmin 500 from about 30 cm (the length of the USB cord) while still attached to my computer, and onto a wooden floor. The screen died and the unit had to be replaced. I've dropped my 800 a couple of times without anything happening, and from far greater heights.

I am sure I was unlucky, but I think you are going too far when you say "quite the opposite"

I'd still say the quality of these units is poor and could have been a lot better. The majority of my friends with Garmins have had them replaced under warranty at some point.

It is my impression that it is Garmin's policy to release beta candidate software and units of sub-par physical quality to the market, only because replacing them under warranty is easier and cheaper for them than whatever the alternative might be.