A good result from Garmin

[Droopy Dick]

A few weeks ago the anti-reflection surface coating on my 2610 began to delaminate.

Exactly the same thing happened just under 12 months ago when the device was only 2 months old.

At the time Garmin repaired it FOC but the packing note from the repair technician insinuated that the damage had come about because I'd been using an alkaline fluid to clean the screen which I hadn't.

Anyway, two weeks ago I wrote a firm, polite bust 'desk burning' letter to Garmin UK explaining that the fault had re-occurred and asking them to replace the device. Ipointed out that there were a handfull of folk on the website who'd had exactly the same fault crop up.

A letter arrived from Garmin this morning telling me that they'd found that the surface coating wasn't behaving as it had been thought it would and offering to replace the device rather than just fit a new screen.

So, a result!

(Although it seems to take as much time to get a letter from them as it does for them to answer the phone).

 

[fcasado]

The same thing is happening to my Quest but I can't contact Garmin, e-mailed them dozen of times, tried to get thru the phone...no lucky at all

Which address did you write to?

TIA

Fernando

 

[Bumpkin]

The same thing is happening to my Quest

FWIW I polished the coating off mine using Brasso, doesn't seem to make much difference to reflections as far as I could tell and brightened the screen up quite a bit.

Having said that mine was purchased 2nd hand, was already worn and outside of warranty even if Garmin would have honoured it. Having said that the previous owner had never bothered to register it so I got CN v8 upgrade free and probably would be recognised as the 1st owner by Garmin although the general condition of the unit makes it obvious it's nowhere near new. For £130 of fleaBay with everything that came in the box when new I can't complain.

 

[charlie b]

The same thing is happening to my Quest but I can't contact Garmin, e-mailed them dozen of times, tried to get thru the phone...no lucky at all
Which address did you write to?
TIA Fernando

Garmin Europe Ltd
Unit 5,
The Quadrangle,
Abbey Park,
Romsey,
Hampshire
SO51 9DF

01794 519944
This is the land line and cheaper than their 0870 one.

Call them at opening time, (think it is 8.30am), and be prepared to hang on. They will answer eventually and give you a return number to send your old one back for replacement or whatever. I waited 50 mins when I called them but once through, they were very helpful and I got my faulty unit upgraded, so a good result.

HTH
Charlie

 

[GADGET]

Bmw Navigator

The same has happened to my BMW Navigator (2610), was told by the BMW dealer in ARRAS, france that it is a common problem, I am still waiting for the suppling dealer Wollestons to decide if they are going to do anything about it.
Nothing has touched the screen except my fingers and rain!

 

[Droopy Dick]

This is the chap who wrote to me:

Neil Stevens
Consumer Repairs Manager, Garmin (Europe) Ltd
Garmin Europe Ltd
Unit 5,
The Quadrangle,
Abbey Park,
Romsey,
Hampshire
SO51 9DF

 

[fcasado]

Thanks for the advice folks

Will write and see what happens

 

[Droopy Dick]

Well, I trogged over to Garmin today. I'd planned to go yesterday but the monsoon put me off.

Neil Stevens popped out, took my old one away, and reappeared 5 minutes later with a brand new 2610 (although the box has a 'remanufactured' label on it) complete with an unregistered v7 Mapsource and all the accessories.

He was telling me that this screen problem had occurred a fair few units and they can't work out what's causing it, and it's not confined to a small range of batch numbers.

I also made a comment about the dire state of their telephone response time and he told me that the phone people have just been put in a new building and that they have increased the numbers from 10 to 15 bodies.

I have to say that notwithstanding the time to reply to my letter I am more than happy with the outcome. Garmin do have customer service - if you can get through.

 

[fcasado]

Quest went on special delivery on tuesday to Garmin and on Friday a BRAND NEW unit turns up at my door

B......U......T. - - - - I'll have to send it back to Garmin 'cos the rubber thing that covers the USB connector doesn't fit AT ALL

Let's see how long it'll take this time

BTW - ALL the contact done via email, gave up on the phone and after sending a letter my email was replied

 

[Der Lustenauer]

Happened on my Quest1 after about a month of use. I did a bit of research mainly in German Forums and found that it happened to lots of users, so I thought that there is no point in getting it fixed on warranty as the problem would be the same with the next unit. I polished the coating of and had a much brighter screen but with much more reflections on it. A screen protection foil solved that.