Westmarine/Garmin

[Bob 04 H260]

I bought a new Garmin chart plotter last spring from WM with a 2 year service plan. In July it started to freeze and the breaker had to turned off to reboot it. It would run for 10 to 30 minutes before this would happen. I contacted Garmin they suggested if an update did not fix it then send in for repair. I took it to WM who were happy to take care of the problem. They did not have any way to provide a receipt for the unit when I dropped it off at the store. When I insisted I could not leave a $1000+ plotter with them without something on paper, the clerk wrote one on a scrap of paper and attached a business card. Two weeks later I got a call it was fixed. I picked it up. It works fine. However it is not the unit I sent in for repair, much lower serial number (older unit?) and the front cover has a lot of abrasion. I do not have any paper work aside from the note I got when I dropped it off. I am now concerned my original paper work and warranty registration does match the serial number on the unit I now have. Has anyone else had this experience with WM ? is it better to try and correct this with the head office ? the store is about a two hour drive from my home.
Bob

 

[Chuck Creel]

i would place a comment in the rating section of that unit which you purchased. also contact wm customer sevice. you obviously got a much older and well used unit insteadf of the new unit you paid for.

personally i wouldnt accept it because the serial number of your original unit is attached to your service plan..

just my 2 cents

 

[Stu Jackson]

There always is a telephone that can be used to talk to the store manager before you drive for two hours.

And you may have to suck it up a bit for taking a scratched unit back from them, installing it on your boat and then wondering what's going on. And this happened last July?

 

[Joe]

I think you wasted your money with a WM service plan... Garmin will warranty their new products for at least a year anyway. A number of years ago I had my GPS 48 (the white handheld) crap out on me... I called garmin customer service in Iowa and they instructed me to priority mail it to them... it was repaired (or replaced) and fedexed back to me within the week. The following year it crapped out again but they would not fix it because the 2 year warranty had expired.. but they offered to replace the unit with a new warranty for $100. I declined and bought a GPS 76, new model at the time, for $190... that was 8 or 9 years ago... not one problem since, ever....

Bottom line..... deal with the company direct.

 

[John]

I have read that in many cases, stores make their money on the service plan, not the sale itself. This tells you that overall, buying a service plan - like buying any sort of insurance - is like betting with the odds stacked against you. We buy auto or homeowners insurance because if you lose your home, the loss would in most cases be so catastrophic that you couldn't recover. That's not the case for a gps unit.

 

[FastOlson]

I have no idea what other retail choices Bob might have in his geographic area, but this story might also illustrate the larger problem of buying electronics from vendors with no servicing backup. I realize that sometimes there are apparent savings buying from WestMarine or a 'net vendor... but I have found that going thru a local marine electronics full service dealer is far better.
While they may not do repairs for every brand in-house, they do have a full shop and take care of all the arrangements if a unit needs to be returned for warranty repair. They are often able to price-match or come close on the $ when buying new, as well. In those cases where they have to charge a bit more, I always get a great "ROI" due to the technical help they render. (The local WM sales/sails person may be polite, but they are not an electronics technician.)

Sorry for a segue, but this sort of problem occurs a lot with expensive electronics.

Back on point, more or less, lots of companies exchange a "refurbed" unit for the dead one the customer sends in. Sending back a scratched up unit sounds unethical to me, I do concede.