A co-worker of mine

He or she should have thought about that before purchasing. What is missing is the original unlock code for the unit? You need this to upgrade the software. These units are high theft targets so this may be Garmin's way of not cooperating with the thievies - or it may be their way of getting you to purchase a new unit. :)
If the purchaser had the original unlock code Garmin may act differently

Yes, unfortunately units on ebay are often stolen. this protects the registered owner. Does he have any kind of unlock code?

Yeah, i guess you are right about the thieft issue. Here is my rule about Ebay....

Never buy a Radar Detector or a GPS off of ebay, not sure about GPS, but RD's warranty doesn't apply if you buy it from Ebay, even if it is still in the bubble package!!!!

He tried to get the original user to give the unlock code, but he was never able to get it.

How does it protect the original owner??? he is still without a GPS. That is sorta like the dang lock on garmins. You can lock it, but if it is stolen does it really matter??????? The owner is still out of a GPS.

I agree the original owner is out of luck but he or she may have the satisfaction of knowing that the thief will not prosper off the loss.

It doesn't really do anything for the original owner; that train has left the station. Th hope is that people will think twice about buying from source's that likely sell stolen property, which would dry up the market for stolen goods, which would make it harder for thieves to fence their booty, which would make it not worth their while to steal these things, which would benefit all other legal owners ... as well as benefiting Garmin's authorized dealers.

I'm glad Garmin is not releasing the lock. I hope this will deter others from stealing our gps. Your friend should ask Ebay to remedy the issue. If the seller could not provide the unlock code, the unit is probably a stolen unit. Your friend should ask for the refund from the seller or dispute the payment.

I'd contact garmin, give them the story and the serial number. Maybe it has been reported stolen, or maybe Garmin could contact the person that originally registered the unit to verify the status.

Thinking now, (that's always dangerous)...I would guess that if any of us run into the misfortune of having a gps receiver stolen, we should probably contact Garmin and let them know, in case someone tried to get updates or whatever.

If you purchased a Garmin gps and wanted to update the maps, but you didn't have an unlock code...Hmmm

The only option I see is to purchase the full version of the map you want (City Nav NA v8 $139.27 at Garmin's website) as opposed to the update (for 75.00)
The full version would come with an unlock code, so subsequent upgrades would be the update price.

I don't know why this wouldn't work... probably got the gps for a good price, so paying full price (an extra $65.00) for map upgrade that includes an unlock code shouldn't seem too out of line.

Exactly! This is why it protects the original registered owner. If it was stolen and you reported it as being stolen to them and someone else tried to get it updated or unlocked or whatever, they wouldn't be able to and it would be in Garmin's system.

Thanks guys!