Garmin’s Great Customer Service
I’ve written in the past about poor customer service at different retailers (and here), so in order to ensure fair play, here is a case study on how to make a customer very happy.
I bought a used boat last year that came equipped with a Garmin 178C GPS/sonar unit. The device worked fine until two weeks ago when it would not boot up properly. I called Garmin, and the helpful associate in Olathe, Kan., gave me two suggestions on how to fix the unit. The first was to update the software using a memory card supplied free by Garmin, although there was a $6 shipping charge and a $50 hold was placed on my credit card as a deposit.
The second was to remove the unit and mail it in for service. He promised me they would either fix it or send me back a new unit. The catch was it would cost $200 either way. The software fix failed, so I sent in my unit and within a week I had a brand new 178C ready for installation. Considering the price for this or a comparable new is well more than $400, and that my old unit was useless, I was very happy.
My only issue is the hold time required to get to speak with a Garmin rep. I called three times, and in each case it was at least 15 minutes, but in the end it was worth it for the level of savings I enjoyed.
denemeth2 commented:
I'm kind of PO'd at Garmin after they charged us $70 for an
"update" to our current GPS and all I can see is they added more
roads that do not exist or do not go through (part of my wifes
continued getting lost problem) and eliminated a bunch of the
stores we typically are looking for like Sam's Club and Gander
Mountain. They never did have most of the Cabelas in there. They
also sold my boss and I the latest version of roads for Mexico when
we were down there on business and got us into some very dangerous
off road areas. Service folks just told me I should research better
before buying and that I should look up the stores in the phone
book 1st.
denemeth2 commented:
I'm kind of PO'd at Garmin after they charged us $70 for an
"update" to our current GPS and all I can see is they added more
roads that do not exist or do not go through (part of my wifes
continued getting lost problem) and eliminated a bunch of the
stores we typically are looking for like Sam's Club and Gander
Mountain. They never did have most of the Cabelas in there. They
also sold my boss and I the latest version of roads for Mexico when
we were down there on business and got us into some very dangerous
off road areas. Service folks just told me I should research better
before buying and that I should look up the stores in the phone
book 1st.
denemeth2 commented:
