Garmin 72 failure and problem

[brownsox]

Our Garmin 72 failed recently - forumites said Garmin great, will fix. It's just over two years old and has been lightly used and well looked after - total inexplicable failure. Garmin say there's a £35 flat charge for repair - unless it's something very simple - they want credit card details up front. "These are warranty policies I cannot change" says the Garmin man. In my view this is not "merchantable quality" under the Sale of Goods Act - you should have a right to expect kit like this to last for more than two sailing seasons, whatever the warranty says. Has anyone had a similar experience with Garmin? My inclination is to think about trying small claims court but I know I'm bolshie. It just seems unreasonable. Hwmbo is laid back and would pay up. We've bought another Garmin already as we were a bit stuck without it. Now my confidence is severely dented. Comments?

 

[sarabande]

Two year's usage seems a bit long to expect free repair IMHO.

I think you only get one year unless the item has a service contract taken out at time of purchase.

Is its demise due to an accident ? Can you claim under insurance ? /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[webcraft]

My experience of Garmin is that they are very rigid and unhelpful. OTOH the 72 is a cheap piece of kit and I doubt if you will get anywhere by hassling Garmin about it.

What was the failure mode?

- Nick

 

[TigaWave]

I've had two hand held Garmin gps back ups fail. Both hardly used and stored in dry conditions. When they were needed (the fixed gps had failed) no sun for astro and 5 days at sea so no good DR.

They both gave up after a few hours use in damp spray conditions.

I also thought that they would be expected to be useable for 2 -3 years before replacement. But it seems Garmin don't expect them to last for longer than 12 months.

They are sold as rugged and waterproof, so you may have a case under durability, good luck.

 

[brownsox]

Beginning of the season it just wouldn't switch on - ziltch. Put new batteries in and it took charge out but nothing on screen at all, tried lots of things, nothing.

 

[No Regrets]

£35 is reasonable.

Send it back with £35, and make it quite clear that you will never buy anything with the Garmin name on it again.

And thank them for showing you why not to invest any money into their brand in the future....

Thats worth thirty five quid isn't it?

 

[gandy]

That's disappointing. My hand-held Garmin GPS-12 was bought second-hand in 2002, used as main instrument for some years before being delegated to backup. That is a tough piece of kit, but maybe the modern stuff isn't so good.

 

[franky]

For £35 you will get an updated and refurbished Garmin 72.It is a useful bit of kit and well worth the outlay.If you use it regularly you will probably find that it willl work better.If it is a major problem it might cost more than the quoted price but if garmin say that the repair will be a fixed charge of £35 they will just whip out the inside and put a new unit inside your old case.

 

[pete]

I have an old Garmin 65 probably 10 years old and a 4 year old 76 both good bits of kit The 65 was sent back well out of guarantee, they checked it out, updated the software and sent it back with a new remote aerial FOC.
When my 14month old Navman echo sounder alarm went quite I rang them and I can`t remember the exact "standard repair charge" but it was a lot more than Garmin have quoted you.
Perhaps you are miffed because of all the good feed back you have heard on this forum but If it was a Magellan or any other make do you think they would repair it free ? I doubt it.
Pete

 

[lenseman]

[ QUOTE ]
Beginning of the season it just wouldn't switch on - ziltch. Put new batteries in and it took charge out but nothing on screen at all, tried lots of things, nothing.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well, if you are going to bin it, you can bin it my way. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif I need a Garmin 72 and I am sure I can fix it /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[Danny Jo]

Given the standard of service I have experienced, and others have reported, I agree that £35 is reasonable.

I sent a 10 year old 12XL to them a couple of years ago because it reported "internal memory failure" and they sent me what appeared to be a brand new one free of charge. I thought at the time that they would struggle to maintain service at that price.

Have you checked for a short within the battery compartment (condensation, salt, bits of corroded battery across the battery contacts)?

 

[Amulet]

I have two Garmin 72's which I treat like dirt and they work perfectly. I have three times asked them technical questions by email and got a genuinely helpful reply. My brother's Garmin 12 did what you describe long after warranty - he sent it to them and they sent it back mended free of charge. Different experiences for different people I guess.