GARMIN REBATES

I don't know about rebates specifically, but the general feedback I've heard about Garmin tends to be positive. I think they're a good company

Completely unrelated to GPS, I had trouble once where a store had promoted the wrong dates for a manufacturer rebate. Could there have been a mis-print in the PEP BOYs advertisement?

JM

That's possable.
The Manager stated that they sold over 500 of them during that rebate special.
I wonder if the store will honor them, or only the ones that kept ALL the paperwork.
My mom stated that she never would have kept the paperwork, She was luckey that my wife filled it all out for her, and saved it in the box.

I verified my target's rebate was listed on
http://www.garmin.com/whatsNew/currentpromotions/
then bought it and used the rebate forms on that page.

My rebate came and was cashed in a little over a month.

I have an ETrex Legend that has a torn rubber boot. I tried to get one from Garmin but was told I had to send it in for them to replace, at about $100. The customer service rep said that because of the proprietary nature of the unit they could not sell me any parts. Good thing the hand strap is still good. No more Garmins in my life.
Jim

I've had a legend for several years now, it's been in the lake a couple of times, been modified with a new back so it snaps into the mount I got for it, and works great to this day. I'd be a bit put off by their statement as I'm sure what they'd do would be to issue you a remanufactured unit rather than repair yours. You can by the Legend right now for $99, so not sure I'd go through that hassle.

Sorry your experience with them hasn't been pleasant, but I wouldn't base your opinion on them overal based on the handheld unit. I've been using Garmin products for a long time and they've usually been top notch for customer service.

... I can tell you that tech support reps regularly get messed over by the very people they went out of their way to help. This kind of thing makes it tempting to play it safe, to toe the company line.

Real life examples from my own experience:

*If you send out a doodad to help them repair their out of warranty doodad at their request, some subset will call back in and try to force you to handhold them through the repair while you've got another 100 people holding in the call queue. This makes you and the other callers unhappy.

*Some subset will wreck their device trying to fix it, and then claim the tech support rep "told them to do it that way" and demand a new replacement. This makes your boss unhappy.

*Some subset will put an exacto knife or screwdriver through their hand during the repair,then get an attorney and sue the company. This makes the owner of the company unhappy.

I am not making this stuff up.

The key, IMO, to getting favors out of your rep is to make it subtly clear that you are clueful, are aware of the reps workload, and are willing to take the risk of modifying /repairing your doodad.

It is not my intent to defend bad service, but to explain that there can be compelling reasons for an otherwise good rep to provide "according to company policy" mediocre service.