ECKeys
03-23-2012, 07:49 AM
I am picking up my first boat, a Sea Hunt Ultra 211, from the dealership tomorrow, Saturday. As part of the purchase, I had them rig a Garmin 740s. The salesman definitely recommended the g2 Vision card for the unit and, being new to the water, I concurred. Anything that will give me additional info and help keep hull from meeting reef is money well spent in my mind.
Still, I knew I had seen the Garmin products on Amazon. In fact, I used pricing found online to get the dealer to knock a couple of hundred off of the 740s. So, I told the sales guy that I would get the Vision card on my own. I also had a $100 Amazon gift card, making the purchase much more palatable. I ended up finding the card on Amazon for $208 + $3.99 shipping from a seller called DataVas. I figured I was saving well over $100 off of Garmin's retail price, plus my $100 gift card made this the deal of the week, so I ordered it up.
I should have known better. Too good to be true and all...
When the Garmin card showed up on Tuesday, I looked it over and it was definitely new, in box. Only problem was that the card was the July, 2008 revision.
Having registered on Garmin's site, I went ahead and stuck the card in my SD reader. Garmin's site promises a free upgrade within 30 days of purchase, so I thought: no problem, I'll just update the card. No luck, the only thing it would offer was a $119.99 upgrade. Frustrated, I sent an email to the maps support folks at Garmin.
I got an email response in less than 10 minutes with instructions on how to update the card. After replying that I had tried that with no luck, the gentleman I was conversing with, Loy, figured out that the version I was sold was very old and could not be updated gratis online, and he immediately offered to replace the card. He provided me with a case number and RMA number and I headed to Office Depot to ship the card. I went ahead and paid (over $50!) to ship the card overnight. In a previous conversation I had mentioned to Loy that I was picking the boat up this weekend and really wanted to be able to use the card, I even offered to pay expedited return shipping. He said he would do what he could to speed up the process.
Yesterday, I sent a follow-up email asking if they had received the card. Loy advised me that it was not yet in their system, but because I provided a tracking number, he would go ahead and process the new card order for me. I received tracking info last night (Thursday) but it was evidently too new and was not yet in the UPS system. I just checked again this morning and the card will be here by end of day today, at no additional cost to me!
I know this has been a rather lengthy post, but I really wanted to get the story out there to this community. I have no affiliation with Garmin, am not a dealer or representative. I am an IT guy working remotely from my house in Key Largo. I cannot say enough about the service Garmin has provided, even though they are fully aware that I purchased the card from on online retailer.
Well done Garmin! In a world of rapidly declining customer service standards, it is extremely appreciated that you are standing behind your product and going above and beyond. Given all things remaining equal, I will be a Garmin customer for life.
Still, I knew I had seen the Garmin products on Amazon. In fact, I used pricing found online to get the dealer to knock a couple of hundred off of the 740s. So, I told the sales guy that I would get the Vision card on my own. I also had a $100 Amazon gift card, making the purchase much more palatable. I ended up finding the card on Amazon for $208 + $3.99 shipping from a seller called DataVas. I figured I was saving well over $100 off of Garmin's retail price, plus my $100 gift card made this the deal of the week, so I ordered it up.
I should have known better. Too good to be true and all...
When the Garmin card showed up on Tuesday, I looked it over and it was definitely new, in box. Only problem was that the card was the July, 2008 revision.
Having registered on Garmin's site, I went ahead and stuck the card in my SD reader. Garmin's site promises a free upgrade within 30 days of purchase, so I thought: no problem, I'll just update the card. No luck, the only thing it would offer was a $119.99 upgrade. Frustrated, I sent an email to the maps support folks at Garmin.
I got an email response in less than 10 minutes with instructions on how to update the card. After replying that I had tried that with no luck, the gentleman I was conversing with, Loy, figured out that the version I was sold was very old and could not be updated gratis online, and he immediately offered to replace the card. He provided me with a case number and RMA number and I headed to Office Depot to ship the card. I went ahead and paid (over $50!) to ship the card overnight. In a previous conversation I had mentioned to Loy that I was picking the boat up this weekend and really wanted to be able to use the card, I even offered to pay expedited return shipping. He said he would do what he could to speed up the process.
Yesterday, I sent a follow-up email asking if they had received the card. Loy advised me that it was not yet in their system, but because I provided a tracking number, he would go ahead and process the new card order for me. I received tracking info last night (Thursday) but it was evidently too new and was not yet in the UPS system. I just checked again this morning and the card will be here by end of day today, at no additional cost to me!
I know this has been a rather lengthy post, but I really wanted to get the story out there to this community. I have no affiliation with Garmin, am not a dealer or representative. I am an IT guy working remotely from my house in Key Largo. I cannot say enough about the service Garmin has provided, even though they are fully aware that I purchased the card from on online retailer.
Well done Garmin! In a world of rapidly declining customer service standards, it is extremely appreciated that you are standing behind your product and going above and beyond. Given all things remaining equal, I will be a Garmin customer for life.