Saturday, November 19, 2011

Garmin and failed QC of repairs

I have had a great GPS watch, a Garmin Forerunner 305 for almost 2 years, and recently the battery more or less completely failed, and I couldn't charge it for more than 30 secs at a time.

Sicne I live in Denmark, we have a 2 year warranty on all products, so I returned it to the shop where I have bought it (Bilka), and they sent it in to Garmin for repairs. 12 days later I had what looked like a brand new watch, but in a bag labelled refurbished.

When I wanted to go for a run, I put the watch in the window for 10 minutes so it could get GPS lock before I went out. Then I put it on, and a minute later, I found out it was turned off. Found out it just took a slight tap to make it turn off. Repairs probably forgot to solder the battery wires :(

Back to the store. They again send it in, with the documents from first repair, and asks to make sure I get one that works. Well, they did not read that note at Garmin.

In my second replacement they probably forgot to solder the GPS antenna inside the watch. Here is a photo of the new one side by side with my wife's 305, after about 1 hour in the window.


Garmin does not seem to have much QC of repairs / refurbished products. I have asked for my money back, or a new-in-box unit from the retail store. I am happy with the watch, so I would like another 305. It seems like the 4xx series is a step down in size and functionality, and the better models are more than twice the price of the 305.

Garmin needs QC at their repair facilities. It is not acceptable that they ship 2 defective replacements to the same customer.

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