Faulty unit and you want me to pay!

Dear Garmin South Africa,

I write this post to express my significant frustration and disappointment regarding the quality of the Garmin 735XT watch which I acquired from you 13 months ago, as well as the very poor level of after-sales support which I have received from you in the past 2 weeks.

Whilst on holiday in December 2017, my Garmin 735XT watch completely died shortly after completing a morning swim (the 735XT is a tri-watch, so no issues here). Despite trying to reboot and/or charge the watch, I couldn’t get it so switch back on.

On returning from holiday, I took the unit to your support centre in Rosebank and was promptly informed that I needed to pay R2,000 for a replacement unit. I find this unacceptable for the following reasons:

1. The watch mysteriously died just 1 month after the expiry of the (very short) 12 month warranty period; 2. There was absolutely no physical damage to the unit and no signs that the watch may have died due to the presence of external forces. As such, one can only conclude that the unit died due to a manufacturing default; and 3. The 735XT is known to have had a number of issues, including this one. When I booked my unit in at the support centre, your own staff admitted to me that “you don’t want to know” how many issues Garmin has been having with the watch. Furthermore, I am personally aware of two individuals who have returned the watch in the past month for the exact same reason.

Upon escalating the issue to you, I was told that “there are no known issues with the Garmin FR 735XT with regards to the screen dying and then not functioning any longer” and the decision for me to be made to pay for a replacement unit was enforced. In light of the information I have provided above, not only am I aware of two individuals who returned their 735XT units for the same reason, but your own support staff made a concession to this effect. This statement is therefore clearly in bad faith and untrue.

I have tried to contact you to discuss the issue in more detail via 3 separate e-mails over the past week as well as via 4 phone calls, to no avail. I have therefore had to resort to a more public forum in an attempt to escalate the issue.

In closing, myself (and I’m sure many other members of the cycling and broader endurance sport community) support Garmin due to (i) the known robustness and durability of your products and (ii) the quality of your after-sales service. This has been a very disappointing and immensely frustrating experience which is totally at odds with this. Should consumers accept that the Garmin “of old” no longer exists and start looking to other brands to achieve the levels of quality and after-sales support we are looking for?

Please could you contact me urgently to discuss further. You have my details, I have called and e-mailed many times.

Dino