Montana Screen Cracked

[Phillips Family]

So I went to upload some tracks for a hike and I thought I saw a bubble of moisture along the bottom of my screen protector. Upon closer examination, I was shocked to see that my Montana screen is cracked.

 

The weird thing is that I have been very careful not to drop or abuse the unit. It spent the previous day of hiking in the front pocket of my cargo pants. I had noticed at the end of that day that the screen seemed like the calibration was off, but nothing was visibly wrong to me at that point and I was tired.

 

So I guess it is off to Garmin for repair, but I thought I'd drop a note here and keep you posted on how things go.

[+BAMBOOZLE]

There have been other posts here of them breaking....one was when someone was removing a screen protector.

[Phillips Family]

There have been other posts here of them breaking....one was when someone was removing a screen protector.

 

I read about that, I also saw that Garmin ultimately covered the cost to replace that screen after an initial quote of $170.00. I am hoping that I will be as fortunate, although I am a little concerned about the ruggedness of this unit now. I seem to recall it being advertised as Garmin's "toughest GPS ever".

[Phillips Family]

Just tried calling since Garmin wasn't open until today. The wait time is 30-35 minutes. I guess I'll try after work this afternoon.

 

The US site would allow me to RMA my unit online but us Canadian customers need to phone in.

Edited October 1, 2012 by Phillips Family

[Phillips Family]

So the wait on hold with Garmin this afternoon was 5-7 minutes, that's a little better. Must have got caught in the post weekend rush this morning.

 

I just got off the phone with the Garmin rep. Turns out my warranty expired 2 weeks ago.

 

I explained that I had experienced screen calibration issues with my unit initially and that it had been replaced twice already, and that I was told by the Garmin USA support site that the repair cost would be covered.

 

At this point the rep said that they would make an exception and cover the repair cost for me.

 

 

Wow.

 

 

I was told to submit through their Canadian repair facility - Raytech.ca, so I will be sending the unit off today.

 

One thing I have to say, Garmin has been really good at standing behind their products. The software updates for my unit have been adding new and useful features, and customer service reps that actually have some leeway to take care of their customers make Garmin a company I plan to stick with for my future purchases.