shame on garmin??

i paid a bit over 2-grand for a shiny new 396. spent hours and lots
more money learning it and getting it wired to the ships power and
audio mixer.

first time out, on a bright clear day, the thing loses signal. no wx,
no gps but the music plays just fine.

fortunately, since i hang around here and the cessna clubs i sorta knew
there might be a problem.

reboot...problem solved. for about 2 minutes. reboot six times in 30
minutes. fortunately for me i'm in familiar territory, my ship has lots
of old dumb guages and i've got a big lowrance 1000 stuck to the
window.

called garnin and get this: they never even asked my serial number or
any purchase info. just what address do we send the replacement
antenna. they absolutely knew they shipped junk and never told me.
NOT ONE WORD FROM THEM TILL I CALLED.

after reading the nw-pilot experience i'm just getting madder and
madder thinking about these guys.

when i started out flying, i bought a cheap little lowrance
i-finder.designed for hiking. found out it has a nearest airport
feature. works like a charm every time. i've mentioned before that i
thought lowrance must be a front for the russian army cause their stuff
is simple, dead dependable and makes a decent weapon or hammer if
necessary. bought a lowrance 1000 and as i mentioned above, it's
suction cupped to the left side of the front window.

i don't know what the final report on nw-pilot is going to show but, if
garmin is going to be the "aviation standard" they better get busy
talking to their customers and fixing the problems. matter of fact, i
think they should get someone working this board and the "type-clubs"
before they find themselves having lunch with general motors wondering
what happened.

dan



i

You had a bad antennae and Garmin is shipping you a new one. That will
fix the problem. I am sure Garmin would love it if these problems did
not occur. But they back up their products as well if not better than
anyone. Let us know if the new antennae fixes the problem.

I've had 3 Garmin units and they have all worked well, not flawlessly,
but well. I have had King GPS and it worked, but had more errors and
reboots than my Garmin units.

houstondan wrote:
called garnin and get this: they never even asked my serial number or
any purchase info. just what address do we send the replacement
antenna. they absolutely knew they shipped junk and never told me.
NOT ONE WORD FROM THEM TILL I CALLED.

I wish more companies had such great service. They know they had a
problem and offered to send a replacement (at their cost) to anyone who
called. They didn't even hassle you by making you prove you had the
unit and reporting your serial number. Great service!

-Robert

On 5 Oct 2006 10:04:34 -0700, "houstondan"
wrote in . com:

called garnin and get this: they never even asked my serial number or
any purchase info. just what address do we send the replacement
antenna. they absolutely knew they shipped junk and never told me.
NOT ONE WORD FROM THEM TILL I CALLED.

Had you filled out the customer registration card and sent it to
Garmin?

What in the world are you talking about?

Garmin has fantastic customer support!

Karl
"houstondan" wrote in message
ups.com...
i paid a bit over 2-grand for a shiny new 396. spent hours and lots
more money learning it and getting it wired to the ships power and
audio mixer.

first time out, on a bright clear day, the thing loses signal. no wx,
no gps but the music plays just fine.

fortunately, since i hang around here and the cessna clubs i sorta knew
there might be a problem.

reboot...problem solved. for about 2 minutes. reboot six times in 30
minutes. fortunately for me i'm in familiar territory, my ship has lots
of old dumb guages and i've got a big lowrance 1000 stuck to the
window.

called garnin and get this: they never even asked my serial number or
any purchase info. just what address do we send the replacement
antenna. they absolutely knew they shipped junk and never told me.
NOT ONE WORD FROM THEM TILL I CALLED.

after reading the nw-pilot experience i'm just getting madder and
madder thinking about these guys.

when i started out flying, i bought a cheap little lowrance
i-finder.designed for hiking. found out it has a nearest airport
feature. works like a charm every time. i've mentioned before that i
thought lowrance must be a front for the russian army cause their stuff
is simple, dead dependable and makes a decent weapon or hammer if
necessary. bought a lowrance 1000 and as i mentioned above, it's
suction cupped to the left side of the front window.

i don't know what the final report on nw-pilot is going to show but, if
garmin is going to be the "aviation standard" they better get busy
talking to their customers and fixing the problems. matter of fact, i
think they should get someone working this board and the "type-clubs"
before they find themselves having lunch with general motors wondering
what happened.

dan



i

"Robert M. Gary" wrote in message
ups.com...

houstondan wrote:
called garnin and get this: they never even asked my serial number or
any purchase info. just what address do we send the replacement
antenna. they absolutely knew they shipped junk and never told me.
NOT ONE WORD FROM THEM TILL I CALLED.

I wish more companies had such great service. They know they had a
problem and offered to send a replacement (at their cost) to anyone who
called. They didn't even hassle you by making you prove you had the
unit and reporting your serial number. Great service!

I think he believes it's a product-wide fault, rather like an item being
recalled. IIUC, the antenna is often the biggest source of problems with a
GPS. In his case, as soon as he described the symptoms, they had the
solution. Kinda like going to the doctor during flu season; he/she knows
your coming and why.


--
Matt
---------------------
Matthew W. Barrow
Site-Fill Homes, LLC.
Montrose, CO (MTJ)

this is like talking religion.


of course i am completely registered with garmin and it's very nice
that they responded.

but they knew that the whole production run of those external antennas
was bad yet they did nothing to initiate the recall. there are probably
many people out there who have been happily using the stick thinking
they're just fine. they've got a time bomb in their case.

this was not an isolated case of a few bad units. virtually all those
antennas are bad and they know it and i don't see how you guys can
defend the fact that garmin has not proactively done a recall.


dan


karl gruber wrote:
What in the world are you talking about?

Garmin has fantastic customer support!

Karl
"houstondan" wrote in message
ups.com...
i paid a bit over 2-grand for a shiny new 396. spent hours and lots
more money learning it and getting it wired to the ships power and
audio mixer.

first time out, on a bright clear day, the thing loses signal. no wx,
no gps but the music plays just fine.

fortunately, since i hang around here and the cessna clubs i sorta knew
there might be a problem.

reboot...problem solved. for about 2 minutes. reboot six times in 30
minutes. fortunately for me i'm in familiar territory, my ship has lots
of old dumb guages and i've got a big lowrance 1000 stuck to the
window.

called garnin and get this: they never even asked my serial number or
any purchase info. just what address do we send the replacement
antenna. they absolutely knew they shipped junk and never told me.
NOT ONE WORD FROM THEM TILL I CALLED.

after reading the nw-pilot experience i'm just getting madder and
madder thinking about these guys.

when i started out flying, i bought a cheap little lowrance
i-finder.designed for hiking. found out it has a nearest airport
feature. works like a charm every time. i've mentioned before that i
thought lowrance must be a front for the russian army cause their stuff
is simple, dead dependable and makes a decent weapon or hammer if
necessary. bought a lowrance 1000 and as i mentioned above, it's
suction cupped to the left side of the front window.

i don't know what the final report on nw-pilot is going to show but, if
garmin is going to be the "aviation standard" they better get busy
talking to their customers and fixing the problems. matter of fact, i
think they should get someone working this board and the "type-clubs"
before they find themselves having lunch with general motors wondering
what happened.

dan



i

houstondan wrote:
this is like talking religion.


of course i am completely registered with garmin and it's very nice
that they responded.

but they knew that the whole production run of those external antennas
was bad yet they did nothing to initiate the recall. there are probably
many people out there who have been happily using the stick thinking
they're just fine. they've got a time bomb in their case.

this was not an isolated case of a few bad units. virtually all those
antennas are bad and they know it and i don't see how you guys can
defend the fact that garmin has not proactively done a recall.


dan


karl gruber wrote:
What in the world are you talking about?

Garmin has fantastic customer support!

Karl
"houstondan" wrote in message
ups.com...
i paid a bit over 2-grand for a shiny new 396. spent hours and lots
more money learning it and getting it wired to the ships power and
audio mixer.

first time out, on a bright clear day, the thing loses signal. no wx,
no gps but the music plays just fine.

fortunately, since i hang around here and the cessna clubs i sorta knew
there might be a problem.

reboot...problem solved. for about 2 minutes. reboot six times in 30
minutes. fortunately for me i'm in familiar territory, my ship has lots
of old dumb guages and i've got a big lowrance 1000 stuck to the
window.

called garnin and get this: they never even asked my serial number or
any purchase info. just what address do we send the replacement
antenna. they absolutely knew they shipped junk and never told me.
NOT ONE WORD FROM THEM TILL I CALLED.

after reading the nw-pilot experience i'm just getting madder and
madder thinking about these guys.

when i started out flying, i bought a cheap little lowrance
i-finder.designed for hiking. found out it has a nearest airport
feature. works like a charm every time. i've mentioned before that i
thought lowrance must be a front for the russian army cause their stuff
is simple, dead dependable and makes a decent weapon or hammer if
necessary. bought a lowrance 1000 and as i mentioned above, it's
suction cupped to the left side of the front window.

i don't know what the final report on nw-pilot is going to show but, if
garmin is going to be the "aviation standard" they better get busy
talking to their customers and fixing the problems. matter of fact, i
think they should get someone working this board and the "type-clubs"
before they find themselves having lunch with general motors wondering
what happened.

dan



i


Just how do you know they are all bad? Could this be a issue where they
know some are bad and if call in with a problem they just replace it?

If Garmin is so bad, why are there so few complaints?

Bob Gardner

"houstondan" wrote in message
ups.com...
i paid a bit over 2-grand for a shiny new 396. spent hours and lots
more money learning it and getting it wired to the ships power and
audio mixer.

first time out, on a bright clear day, the thing loses signal. no wx,
no gps but the music plays just fine.

fortunately, since i hang around here and the cessna clubs i sorta knew
there might be a problem.

reboot...problem solved. for about 2 minutes. reboot six times in 30
minutes. fortunately for me i'm in familiar territory, my ship has lots
of old dumb guages and i've got a big lowrance 1000 stuck to the
window.

called garnin and get this: they never even asked my serial number or
any purchase info. just what address do we send the replacement
antenna. they absolutely knew they shipped junk and never told me.
NOT ONE WORD FROM THEM TILL I CALLED.

after reading the nw-pilot experience i'm just getting madder and
madder thinking about these guys.

when i started out flying, i bought a cheap little lowrance
i-finder.designed for hiking. found out it has a nearest airport
feature. works like a charm every time. i've mentioned before that i
thought lowrance must be a front for the russian army cause their stuff
is simple, dead dependable and makes a decent weapon or hammer if
necessary. bought a lowrance 1000 and as i mentioned above, it's
suction cupped to the left side of the front window.

i don't know what the final report on nw-pilot is going to show but, if
garmin is going to be the "aviation standard" they better get busy
talking to their customers and fixing the problems. matter of fact, i
think they should get someone working this board and the "type-clubs"
before they find themselves having lunch with general motors wondering
what happened.

dan



i

Kinda like going to the doctor during flu season; he/she knows
your coming and why.


That reminds me my flu shot is Friday!