Garmin no longer providing a repair service in Europe.

[Regular.Cyclist]

My wife’s Garmin Fenix 6s watch, which is around 3 years old and already had to be repaired during warranty, developed a problem yesterday. The screen has numerous missing lines. She emailed Garmin to enquire about repair options.

To their credit they got back to her quickly but not with the news that she expected. They have told her that they no longer provide a repair service in Europe and the best they can do is offer a replacement device at up to 20% discount. Give that is a discount from Garmin's own list price, and other retailers often undercut them, it’s not that great a deal.

After being loyal to the brand for nearly two decades she’s now looking at options elsewhere.

 

[Ridgeway]

Had exactly the same experience with Garmin on my Varia. The battery started to fail after one year and i asked if they can replace it, same reply saying they’d offer 20% off their own RRP which was actually more expensive than buying new and online.

I can’t see that selling devices with sealed batteries and not offering any repair/replacement service is good long term…..

 

[wafter]

Wow - that's crap; although sadly unsurprising.

Rightly or wrongly when looking for a GPS unit for the bike I avoided Garmin precisely because they seemed to display a lot of the less-salubrious corporate traits that seem rife across US brands.

I hope this news pushes more people towards boycotting the brand.

In the end I went with a Polar device; 6yrs later it's still working although will soon need a replacement battery (not "user replaceable" but apparently easy enough and spares are readily available). It is however discontinued and I live in fear of the brand just pulling the plug on the web-based interface / support one day..

I can’t see that selling devices with sealed batteries and not offering any repair/replacement service is good long term…..

It's the way everything's going - terrible for the consumer and environment; great for the manufacturer if those buying remain sufficiently unthinking and uncritical to just keep discarding and consuming at an ever-increasing rate.... like the mindless, shallow, consumptive drones that sadly seem to typify the typical citizen

 

[fossyant]

Then again many of us have had no issues with garmin devices. Shame the repair service has gone, but it's a sign of the times.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Under warranty they’ll just replace for free

 

[numbnuts]

We now live in a throw-a-way society

 

[Regular.Cyclist]

I’ve had a few issues over the years with Garmin devices and their repair service was great. I briefly tried Suunto and their repair service was atrocious, wanted to charge me more than the cost of a replacement to repair a device.

Myself, I have recently made the move to COROS and, so far, my experience with them has been the best yet.

 

[Regular.Cyclist]

Under warranty they’ll just replace for free

As other will do but, with warranties only being 12 months it now gets expensive should a device fail after, say, 13 months.

 

[vickster]

As other will do but, with warranties only being 12 months it now gets expensive should a device fail after, say, 13 months.

John Lewis offer 2 year warranties on electronics 👍🏻
Granted they may charge a bit more but that's the choice. Amazon offer relatively cheap extended warranties often too

 

[Ming the Merciless]

As other will do but, with warranties only being 12 months

It’s two years for Garmin. I recently claimed on it.

 

[Regular.Cyclist]

It’s two years for Garmin. I recently claimed on it.

Thanks. They probably changed that since I last owned one of their products.

 

[Regular.Cyclist]

John Lewis offer 2 year warranties on electronics 👍🏻
Granted they may charge a bit more but that's the choice. Amazon offer relatively cheap extended warranties often too

JL are currently selling the 7s for £358. Garmin’s offer to my wife was £363.99 after their 20% discount!

 

[wafter]

We now live in a throw-a-way society

This society is certainly worth binning...

 

[wafter]

Under warranty they’ll just replace for free

That's great; however it suggests a dangerous precedent in suggesting anything over a year old is going to be fit for the bin if it malfs. Personally I'd not touch anything from a company with such a crap attitude.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

That's great; however it suggests a dangerous precedent in suggesting anything over a year old is going to be fit for the bin if it malfs. Personally I'd not touch anything from a company with such a crap attitude.

Guarantee is two years not one.