Simon You have a good point. It was in hindsight perhaps a little unfair of me to express my opinion in such a way. In my line of work, we are all too often the victim of overseas companies that sell us equipment and instruments with built in obsolescence and limited service life. I may be "Gun Shy", but I now have a purchasing policy at work which strongly favours the longevity and serviceability of equipment I purchase. I also admit to be being poorly advised by the agent. All he seemed to want to do is get me to part with $600 for a new GPS. To be fair, I will post a report on how this all goes. Hopefully it will all go well.
Thanks for your advise. Date sent: Fri, 26 Oct 2001 14:50:05 +0930 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] From: Simon Hackett <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: [aus-soaring] Stung Badly Send reply to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > I appreciate your frustration, really I do. > > What it comes down to for a large manufacturer with a lot of > distribution channels is that policy is going to come out differently > from different dealers, in terms of what they're prepared to do; Hence > I took a punt (currently in this case, as it happened - might just as > well have not worked) and contacted the manufacturer directly. > > Given the interesting thing, that being that the model you have with > the problem is the same model I've come across with the same problem, > it might well be a production fault in a batch of units. The point I > guess I'm trying to make here is that it may not be fair to infer that > one bad batch of anything (gps units, gliders, whatever) necessarily > implies that the entire production output of that organisation is > similarly flawed. > > Almost all manufacturers have a bad batch somewhere in their lives. > > I've owned a Garmin GPS 92 (like the 12XL but with aviation bits > added), and I think it's probably 6 years old. And it's still running > flawlessly. > > Cheers, > Simon > > At 2:33 PM +0930 26/10/01, ANDREW WRIGHT wrote: > >Simon > > Yes you are right. > > I would be pleased to publish a personal and public > >retraction and apology if my judgement is proven wrong. > > On speaking to Garmin, I did the right thing and contacted a > >noted Garmin agent in Adelaide and he advised me to do as you have > >suggested, ie new set of good quality batteries for 72 hours. He > >was adamant however, that beyond that, nothing can do - Come a spend > >more $$$$$$. My frustration however must be obvious! When are > >manufactures going to realize that there is a market out there for > >high quality (and Garmin certainly are high quality), long lifed, > >serviceable equipment. As an example, I had a much more pleasant > >experience with my Cambridge S Nav. In this case a new internal > >battery fixed the problem. "Great" I will take your advise. I will > >contact Garmin direct with my problem and see what they say. > > > > > > > >Date sent: Fri, 26 Oct 2001 12:47:38 +0930 > >To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >From: Simon Hackett <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >Subject: Re: [aus-soaring] Stung Badly > >Send reply to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > > Hi Andrew, > > > > > > Emilis' Garmin 12XL is showing a diagnostic saying something like > > > 'internal battery low' as well. Something like 3-4 years. > > > > > > Sounds like a production issue. > > > > > > But here's the potentially good news. We just logged a query with > > > Garmin technical support about the unit, and they got back to us > > > and told us how to get it replaced free of charge, if feeding the > > > unit new batteries and leaving it off for a few days didn't cure > > > it. > > > > > > You might want to consider doing the same. > > > > > > As I own an organisation that lives or dies on customer service, > > > I appreciate, perhaps more than some, how frustrating it is to be > > > damned in public before one is asked, in private, to just fix the > > > problem. Because when people ask a good organisation for help, > > > they get it, regardless of the nominal warranty period. > > > > > > I know it's the great Australian way to presume that people you > > > buy things from don't give a stuff about you, and I wish it > > > wasn't the great Australian way. > > > > > > Have you tried asking Garmin for assistance with this? You might > > > find that they're just as happy to replace your unit as they seem > > > to be to replace Emilis' one. > > > > > > We just filled in this form: > > > > > > http://www.garmin.com/contactUs/techSupport.html > > > > > > And explained the error message we get on power-on, and asked for > > > help. They offered (despite their one year warranty) to replace > > > the unit if the error didn't go away after putting in a new set > > > of batteries. > > > > > > So my experience, and opinion, of Garmin, is the precise opposite > > > of yours, as a result of exactly the same initial fault. > > > > > > Cheers, > > > Simon > > > > > > At 12:37 PM +0930 26/10/01, ANDREW WRIGHT wrote: > > > >Dear All > > > > I think I have just been stung badly and would like to pass > > > >this info onto users or potential users of GARMIN handheld > > > >GPS. GARMIN handheld GPS have an internal lithium backup battery > > > >in them that is kept charged by the main power batteries ( > > > >usually 4 X AAs). This internal battery maintains the waypoints > > > >etc when the unit is turned off and the main batteries are less > > > >than fully charged or removed. When this internal battery dies, > > > >which it is designed to do after about 10 years, you throw the > > > >whole bloody GPS out the window!!! This is because the internal > > > >battery is sealed in place and CAN NOT be replaced. How crazy is > > > >that !!! Like scraping your car because the ash tray is full! > > > >I expected to be able to use my GARMIN 12XL for a lot more than > > > >10 years ! As my GARMIN 12XL internal battery has just died > > > >(after only 4 years I might add), I will definitely not be > > > >buying another GARMIN. I would rather spend more on something > > > >that is serviceable and will give me years of service if looked > > > >after. Perhaps if we all did the same they (GARMIN) would get > > > >the message! SIGNED Pretty pissed off. > > > > > > > >-- > > > > * You are subscribed to the aus-soaring mailing list. > > > > * To Unsubscribe: send email to > > > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] * with "unsubscribe > > > > aus-soaring" in the body of the message * or with "help" in > > > > the body of the message for more information. > > > > > > > > > -- > > > > > > --- > > > Simon Hackett, Technical Director, Internode Systems Pty Ltd 31 > > > York St [PO Box 284, Rundle Mall], Adelaide, SA 5000 Australia > > > Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.internode.on.net > > > Phone: > > > +61-8-8223-2999 Fax: +61-8-8223-1777 > > > > > > -- > > > * You are subscribed to the aus-soaring mailing list. > > > * To Unsubscribe: send email to > > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] * with "unsubscribe > > > aus-soaring" in the body of the message * or with "help" in the > > > body of the message for more information. > > > > > > > > > > >ANDREW WRIGHT > > > >-- > > * You are subscribed to the aus-soaring mailing list. > > * To Unsubscribe: send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] * > > with "unsubscribe aus-soaring" in the body of the message * or > > with "help" in the body of the message for more information. > > > -- > > --- > Simon Hackett, Technical Director, Internode Systems Pty Ltd > 31 York St [PO Box 284, Rundle Mall], Adelaide, SA 5000 Australia > Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.internode.on.net Phone: > +61-8-8223-2999 Fax: +61-8-8223-1777 > > -- > * You are subscribed to the aus-soaring mailing list. > * To Unsubscribe: send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] * > with "unsubscribe aus-soaring" in the body of the message * or with > "help" in the body of the message for more information. > ANDREW WRIGHT -- * You are subscribed to the aus-soaring mailing list. * To Unsubscribe: send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] * with "unsubscribe aus-soaring" in the body of the message * or with "help" in the body of the message for more information.
