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Anybody have experience with Garmin repair service?


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I hope nobody has had to have that kind of service, but if anybody has, I'd appreciate hearing how it went. I killed my Colorado 400t today by dropping it on a sharp rock. Yep, just like buttered toast, it just had to land screen-down. The screen is completely ruined.

 

Garmin product support is closed for the long weekend, so I figured I'd check around here to see what experiences people have had with their repair service. Any idea on what this might cost me? Any idea how long it might take?

 

I'd appreciate hearing whatever you all have to say.

 

Thanks,

Jon

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My experience has been that you will wait forever to get through to an call rep but they will handle your call quite well.

 

They will most likely replace your unit under warranty even though it was not their fault.

 

Exactly what I was going to say. I tried email once and got a form letter response. Once you get through the service is quite good.

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I've had pretty good luck with their repair service but it's pretty slow and expensive. I doubt they will replace it under warranty as broken displays are not covered even if it's a new unit. If they do, consider yourself lucky. Every repair they have done they have just replaced the unit. I would assume that they would do the same in your case, but for a charge.

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about a month ago i updated my garmin vista cx and it messed the gps all up,i called garmin usa and got through really quick,the man was very helpfull,he said send it in for repairs,it cost me little over 5 bucks ,there were other problems with this unit i had the rubber come of one time ,i had to re-glue it on and my neck strap hook on the bottom of gps had broken off.the gps was little over year old,i thought they would just repair software but they sent me a brand new gps at no cost,from the time i sent gps in to recieiving new one back took only 9days wow i could not say enough about garmin's service they were the best company i have ever dealt with.i will always be garmin owner .

Edited by 0newithwild
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Non-Aviation Limited Warranty

This warranty does not cover failures due to abuse, misuse, accident or unauthorized alterations or repairs.
http://www8.garmin.com/support/warranty.html

 

So you would think it's a pretty open and shut case. When my eTrex (non-WAAS) ended up getting fragged, I emailed Garmin requesting some replacement parts, as the rubber surround was damaged and the ENTER button (plunger) missing. The screen also had a horizontal and vertical line. The unit was several years out of it's original warranty, but surprisingly still worked. They wrote back asking which model eTrex. So I wrote back that it was the yellow one. They wrote back this time saying that they didn't have parts available, but issued me an RMA and said that they would repair or replace the unit under warranty. I backed up the unit's data and wiped the memory, then mailed the unit off to Kansas USPS insured, and had a replacement in about 10 days. They replaced it with a as new WAAS model eTrex, no charge. So ya' never know...

 

Total time with email: 2 minutes over a couple days, with a paper-trail. Total cost was about US$6.00 freight in. If you're in a rush, call them and wait in the queue, have a paper and pen/pencil handy to take notes. Good luck.

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Thanks, everybody -- it's good to hear good things about customer service at Garmin. I'll see what they say when I call on Tuesday and let you know. The unit is still under warranty (for about another month), but this is clearly not a defect in manufacturing. Actually, the Colorado never gave me any problems besides the very occasional lockup that forced me to remove the batteries and restart. It's been a great companion on a lot of different kinds of trips, so I'm looking forward to having it back up and working again.

 

Oh, and on the e-mail issue, the last time I sent in an e-mail, I got a response within three days. I didn't think that was acceptable. I'll definitely work on getting through by phone.

 

Thanks again -- have a great holiday weekend, everyone.

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Rich has most likely had more dealing with their customer service, I myself, only the one time. I wasn't in any type of a rush as I also ended up getting fragged and was on the heal at the time. I was surprised that they replaced the unit after all that time, I was more than willing to pay for the parts and do it myself. Three days isn't a very good turn around for email, and not getting a reply even worse... Best of luck with your situation. Is the screen itself damaged or is the clear plastic screen cover broken?

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Rich has most likely had more dealing with their customer service, I myself, only the one time. I wasn't in any type of a rush as I also ended up getting fragged and was on the heal at the time. I was surprised that they replaced the unit after all that time, I was more than willing to pay for the parts and do it myself. Three days isn't a very good turn around for email, and not getting a reply even worse... Best of luck with your situation. Is the screen itself damaged or is the clear plastic screen cover broken?

 

I can see two layers of cracks, so I guess the right answer is yes (I didn't know one layer was plastic). The screen brightens up when I power it on, but it doesn't display anything. There's just a big black dot on the screen centered on the impact point. I've seen ruined lcd screens before, and that's what happened here. The good news is that it still works fine as a USB mass storage device, so I was able to back up my data to my computer.

 

I'll post a photo in a little while.

Edited by jsarche
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I can see two layers of cracks, so I guess the right answer is yes (I didn't know one layer was plastic). The screen brightens up when I power it on, but it doesn't display anything. There's just a big black dot on the screen centered on the impact point. I've seen ruined lcd screens before, and that's what happened here. The good news is that it still works fine as a USB mass storage device, so I was able to back up my data to my computer.

 

I'll post a photo in a little while.

Some units like the eTrex series and GPSMAP's have clear plastic layers over the screen that can be replaced fairly easily and cheaper than paying and sending the unit in. Sorry to say, it sounds like the display on yours is toasted. At least you were able to backup your data.
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I can see two layers of cracks, so I guess the right answer is yes (I didn't know one layer was plastic). The screen brightens up when I power it on, but it doesn't display anything. There's just a big black dot on the screen centered on the impact point. I've seen ruined lcd screens before, and that's what happened here. The good news is that it still works fine as a USB mass storage device, so I was able to back up my data to my computer.

 

I'll post a photo in a little while.

Some units like the eTrex series and GPSMAP's have clear plastic layers over the screen that can be replaced fairly easily and cheaper than paying and sending the unit in. Sorry to say, it sounds like the display on yours is toasted. At least you were able to backup your data.

 

Yep, I think it's safe to say it's toasted:

(I forgot to mention: I was using the ZAGG Invisible Shield, which I put on within days of buying the unit last June. I highly recommend it. Despite pretty heavy use including several hiking, backpacking, scrambling-up-mountain and those kinds of trips, the screen has absolutely no scratches on it. In fact, I've already ordered another one for when I get this fixed. And no, I have no connection whatsoever to the company. It's just a good product.)

DSCN1825.jpg

Edited by jsarche
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