Contacting Garmin?

Tim Cullis

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The top layer on my 2610 screen has peeled off, and I've been trying to reach Garmin support for several days, but all I reach is a telephone message, "All of our operators are busy, please hold."

Given that it's an 0870 high-charge number this is a bit rich! I've found a non-premium alternate 01794 519944 number, but with same result.

Does anyone have an email address for support?

Tim
 
Tim, I’ve rung them twice this afternoon and couldn’t get through :(
 
Tim Cullis said:
The top layer on my 2610 screen has peeled off,

Mine did this too.

I drove over to their offices.

A young chap came and looked at the device and told me they'd had a batch of 2610s to which this had happened, and it was a manufacturing fault.

On the packing note that came with the repaired device, an 'engineer' had written that the damage had been caused by the use of caustic cleaning fluids and Garmin had repaired it FOC as a goodwill gesture.

He got a very snotty reply from me saying that I'd not used anything other than water to wipe the surfaces of the 2610 with.

Cheeky sod!
 
I haven't had any success with this. I've tried using the email form on the website but didn't receive a reply. I've also tried many, many times to contact them on the phone, and sat there for 20 or more minutes listening to recorded messages before throwing the phone down in disgust. It hasn't helped that I've been away on trips and not been in the country to chase the problem down.

This afternoon I sat on the phone for 37 minutes before finally the recorded messages were interupted with, "hold on while we transfer you." Unfortunately it was to another recorded message that told me the offices were now closed.

I'm now seriously pissed off. Any ideas?

Tim
 
Tim Cullis said:
I haven't had any success with this. I've tried using the email form on the website but didn't receive a reply. I've also tried many, many times to contact them on the phone, and sat there for 20 or more minutes listening to recorded messages before throwing the phone down in disgust. It hasn't helped that I've been away on trips and not been in the country to chase the problem down.

This afternoon I sat on the phone for 37 minutes before finally the recorded messages were interupted with, "hold on while we transfer you." Unfortunately it was to another recorded message that told me the offices were now closed.

I'm now seriously pissed off. Any ideas?

Tim

Garmin are selling more and more units to more and more numpties......until their after sales reps are increased proportionately to match the increase in sales, we're gonna get this problem I reckon.

There have been several threads going back where the phone numbers of individual support guys have been posted.....the search button is your friend. ;)

I'd also suggest that you don't wait 'til last thing in the afternoon.......that's when their lines are going to be busiest.....I'd be calling them from a few minutes before they open ...not tried it, but common sense says you have a much better chance ;)

PS Let's not get it out of proportion either.....yes there's a problem with communication now, but they still have an exemplary track record in sorting out problems second only to Nippy Norm's :)
 
Nice theory Bill, but whilst there's a thread moaning about telephone queuing from May this year (thread 73927), there's also one that goes back to March/April 2005 (thread 41345).

Calling Garmin first thing in the morning was one of the first things I tried. As soon as the "offices are closed" message was removed it was back to "thank you for holding."

And yes, I've used the search facility and there's a 191 threads containing the words Garmin and Support. However, I've now found a reference to 'Ollie Stone' which I will try. I'll post when there's news

Tim
 
for what its worth

Gave up the phoning thing some time ago after a long wind up wait or two. Taken to just posting the unit to them.. i3 was returned in under a week, unit was replaced under warranty. Just recieved an updated v8 mapsource card today, i posted it monday! Happy with that, in fact so happy with there service i ordered a 2720 today! :thumb nick
 
Tim

As someone who has also complained about the Garmin service (and got severely criticised on here for daring to question the mighty Garmin) I did eventually get some replies to emails. The email addresses that replied to me were:

Sid it’s not a good idea to publicise personal email addresses in a public forum
PG
BHT


Hope this helps.

See you at HU

Sid
 
On the 'support' page it's an 0870 national number.....

On the 'Contact us' page it's an 0808 freephone number.....

0808 2380000 if you're interested ;)

-Rob
 
Here is something that might help

I've always had first class service from Garmin- very helpful
(granted- the wait is quite long on the phone but when you do get through- very quick to help with real solutions.)

As far as repair of units- here is their reply when I enquired about my 276C

Thank you for contacting Garmin Europe Support.
The non warranty repair cost for the 276c is approx £130.56.
GARMIN'S OUT-OF-WARRENTY REPAIR POLICY -EXPLAINED
FLAT RATE CHARGES
For out-of-warranty repair, GARMIN used to charge parts and labor. This became a resource intensive task of estimating the repair, and trying to contact the customer with the estimate, and so on. Many customers wanted an estimate before they sent the unit in for repair to determine if the unit was worth fixing or not. Obviously you can't do this until you see the unit.

About two years ago, we switched from the parts and labor method of calculating repair charges to a flat rate overhaul system.

With this system, there is a single flat rate charge for complete factory overhaul of a specific product returned to the factory for service. The customer knows up front what the charge will be, so there are no surprises. The factory overhaul process is a thorough process which brings the unit up to the same specifications as when it was new. Any cosmetic issue are addressed, like scratched lenses, cracked cases broken antennas, worn out NiCad battery packs, etc.. If possible, the software in the unit is updated to the latest version applicable to the product. Any modifications or updates are installed in the product as appropriate. Our goal is to send a product back to the customer in a new condition, regardless of the condition it was in when it was received.



If you have any further queries please don't hesitate to contact us again.


Regards,

Senior Product Support associate

Garmin (Europe) Ltd
http://www.garmin.com
http://www.garmin.com/support/

Useful Numbers;

Sales Support 0870 8501242

Returned Units 0870 8501245
 
I've been waiting 3 weeks for a reply to my email about maps failing to load with CN8. I've given up trying to get through on the phone as well.

Garmin Customer Support is pretty poor imo.

Cheers

Dick
 
guitarman said:
I've been waiting 3 weeks for a reply to my email about maps failing to load with CN8.

What exactly is the problem you are having? Maybe we can sort it out for you here in the forum.

Michael
 
PanEuropean said:
What exactly is the problem you are having? Maybe we can sort it out for you here in the forum.

Michael

Thanks Michael but we've already been down this path in another thread. I just wanted to bitch about Garmin customer service ;)

Cheers

Dick
 
Fortunately I saw Sid's message with the Garmin email address before it was deleted!

So I was finally able to make contact with Garmin. The result? A brand new unit with version 7 software. Delighted to see a company that stands by its products.

Tim
 


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