Csárdás

When we got to the boat last Wednesday I switched all the instruments on only to find the Garmin 182C chart plotter which I have had for about 7 years failed to power up properly. The screen remained blank and all it did was beep. I checked the fuse and wiring but all seemed fine.

No matter we certainly weren’t going to need GPS for a short 1 or 2 hour sail. So we left it all alone.

I phoned Garmin the following morning. I found a technical support freephone number on their website and right from the start I was impressed that I got straight through to them. I was told to test the voltage at the back of the unit but if all seemed fine then they do a fixed cost replacement service for items out of warranty. So on Saturday I tested the voltage. No problem - 13.5 volts. But unit still not working properly. So I removed the unit and took it home.

On Monday morning I phoned Garmin again. Got straight through. Was quoted £101 for a replacement.  The unit cost about £500 new 6 years ago.  I was given a reference number and told to package the unit up and send to them in Southampton.  I packed it all up and took it straight to the post office.  That was Monday 7th Jan.

This morning - Thursday 10th Jan - I received a parcel from Garmin containing a factory refurbished 182C.  All shiny as new.

I think that is fantastic service.  And I will certainly be buying Garmin again!

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 10th, 2008 at 7:04 am and is filed under Csardas. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.