Bob Coco

I have a complete Garmin system. A 5212, 4212, H.D. 18 radar, GSD-22, handheld Garmin Oregon and a Garmin VHF 200.

That's quite abit of coin there. I called them today to get my MMSI number removed from my Garmin VHF radio. I want to put it in my other boat and want a different number. I had this radio repaired twice and the receiver is still not as good as my less expensive Standerd Horizon radio.I use this boat to go to the Canyon and bought a high end radio. The screen fogged up twice on it as well. The last repair was a reconditioned unit that I paid 400.00 for and was reimbursed when they got the fogged unit back. I don't have a problem with that but what I'm mad at is that Garmin wants 220.00 plus shipping to remove the MMSI number. The radio was originally bought in 2010 and had so many problems. I bought a used handheld S/H vhf and sent it back for a MMSI swap and it was done free of charge. S/H also tuned up the radio and did an update on the case as well for no charge at all.

Garmin, You should stick to GPS and give up on the VHF radio market.

Yes, I'm mad!!!

Cmann

Take a deep breath...........

Move on.....

captcdub

You should call back to Garmin. They did mine for $50 about 6 months ago, I sent it to them and they had it back within a week. I did seem like it wasn't an official policy because the guy at Garmin i spoke with had to check with his supervisor. So call back and whoever you speak with doesn't seem to know that its $50, have them double check with their Supervisor. Cheers.

sajen

Yeah, was $50 for me also.. think you got a FNG.

baypro21

NY huh?

Maybe this won't come off the wrong way, not meant as an insult.

There was recently a thread on here about northerners being a pain in the ass to deal with. Were you nice from the beginning of the conversation or did the guy sense an attitude and adjust his price accordingly? Maybe you need some southern charm.

sajen

Wait..isn't Birdman from NY?

seabob4

FNG!!!

jethro1

Good grief.

I am sure that this will make a dent in Garmin's bottom line.

jethro1

Oh, Garmin did mine for $25 bucks three weeks ago.

Bob Coco

Now that's not nice. I was very polite. After all I still have almost ten grand in their equipment on my boat. I am ranting here in hopes that someone higher up in the Garmin company hears this and realizes that 220.00 is crazy for a repair on a VHF radio. They had the radio sent back twice already with fogging and less then perfect reception. I have it next to my other radio and have swapped antennas and still have lower reception. Oh and the output power was also lower then my Standerd Horizon as well. Not by much, I think it was 1 watt lower. I checked it with a Shakesphere antenna tester. I love Garmins GPS and tolerate the GSD 22. But the VHF-200's best feature is NEMA 2000.

Oh and BirdMan is from up Island. LOL I live on the other side of the canel.

Bob Coco

Oh and to seabob, I had to look up the meaning of FNG .Yes, I'm a new guy to posting. I see you have way more posts on here then anyone else. While your spending your time posting up on here I'm out fishing and living my life and using my boat. Afterall, this is a boating forum.

Tight lines, Bob

rwidman

"Gamin is going to loose my business."

Please, give me a couple days to contact my broker and have him sell my Garmin stock.

Seriously, you can't please everybody, there is someone mad at every company on this earth. If you feel another company's products or service better suits you, buy from them. This is why we still have Chevy and Ford cars. And Toyotas.

baypro21

I was just trying to be funny

Birdman

Huh?? Are you saying you have already paid $400 for repairs, to a VHF? Anmd now you want to pay $220 (or something like that) to change an MMSI # on the same VHF? Am I reading this correctly or am I missing something?

If I'm correct, WHY would you pay anybody, $400 for a repair of a $200 VHF? Just go buy a new VHF.

And PS, do NOT buy a Garmin VHF. Buy an Icom or SH, period.

Now for the last thing, why don't you just enter in the new MMSI#!! I've done that many a many a time without a problem on every brand VHF out there.

Curmudgeon

This is why we still have Chevy and Ford cars.

Ford is still around because they weren't afraid to tell the UAW to pound sand, we have Chevy because Obama bought 'em out (with your money) after they trashed all their creditors, and no one understands why we even bothered with Chrysler ...

rla69

This will be interesting.

rwidman

How do you "tune up" a radio?

I'm on a boat

Every time I've dealt with Garmin, they have been great. On the other hand, Icom, who makes a fantastic VHF, has perhaps the worst customer service I have ever dealt with. Having said that, I keep buying Icom VHFs...

gerg

Yup, Garmin will usually bend over backwards and jump up and down just to make you happy. They frequently will support issues they don't have to.

So I'm not sure why you ran into roadblocks. Maybe an Ebay purchase? Dunno.

As for Icom, I agree, terrible service and poorly trained. I once had to explain the nmea standard to them, send them traces, and explain it again just to get them to say "beats me".

But I keep buying them as well because they don't really need any support on a regular basis.

Rkatz1