Pilot 111 dead after < 2 years - A result!!
 

My not-quite2-year-old 'Pilot 111' refused to switch on the other week. changed the batteries (twice) but still dead as the proverbial door nail. So I packed it off to Garmin with a covering letter. Others have said 'they'll just send you anew one, free of charge'.

No such luck. I got a phone call today from Garmin; "we can't mend it, but we'll replace it with a new one for £125.89".

That's an odd amount. But I really don't have any option but to pay it. :{

The new one will come with 1 year's warranty. So in theory it could cost me £125.89 per year for thye prvaledge of owning a working 'Pilot 111'.

Anyone else had similar experiences?

SSD

Hi SSD,

That is not really on.

You can expect more use out of any of the fine products of the Garmin stable than a mere 24 months.

I would point this out in a well worded letter and explain that you understand that the warranty is only 12 months but that you would expect a reputable company like them to look after their customers better.

I take it that the thing just died without any damage done to it or anything else which they can say was due to misuse by you?

After all these things should just go on and on and on as there are no serviceable items in them and no wear and tear on electronics other than may be the display.

Certainly worth a letter to appeal to their better nature rather than just sit back an pay up.

FD

SSD

Can't help on the Garmin, but just to give you a heartwarming story of how we mere nothings can still beat the corporate bastards at their own games....

About six years ago I bought the cheapest portable CD player on the market (£34.99, IMSC) and a 3 year warranty (£40, ISTR). I then used this for music on hold on the PBX, which means that it is running 365/24/7. It fails every 18 months, I take it back to Dixons, they give me a new unit and another three years' warranty.

Makes me feel better about every time a corporate screws me.

W

SSD

Don't pay up!!!

I also had a GPS III Pilot that went t:mad: ts up and I spoke to Garmin telling them that I was sorely disappointed and I had been mid flight when it happened (which I was).

They were very apologetic and sent me a free "overhauled" one which works a treat.

This was only about two months ago so I would push a bit harder if I were you and I'm happy to let you quote my name and address when you speak to them so you can request "similar customer service" from them!!

PM me if you're interested.

How very odd of Garmin. I sent back a four year old well travelled 90 which suddenly stopped working, quite willing to pay to have it fixed, and they just sent me back a new 90 FOC. I was so impressd with that sort of service I bought a 196. Anyone want to buy an unused 90?:cool:

If it's out of warranty, it's out of warrenty. Why should you expect them to replace it for free? Besids surely no harm can come even if it fails in mid-flight as it's not your primary navigation unit.

Tsk Tsk - Something for free.

YWIW:

But SSD's expectations have been raised by anecdotal stories of excellent customer service . . .

YWIW,

When you buy something which reasonably can be expected to last longer than a year the manufacturer can not just say 'tough luck' to you as a customer. I believe there is some EU law on this.

Good companies like Volvo actually pride themselves in giving longer come-backs and they will give you a pro-rata discount if long life parts fail before the end of their expected life.

FD

Being in and out of warranty isn't the whole story by a long way.

If the unit is not fit for purpose (and that might include a reasonable expectation that it will continue to work for more than twelve months) you have "statutory rights".

The 12 month warranty is just a part of the story.

I say kick up a fuss.

W

The unit is 'as new' in appearance, and certainly wasn't dropped or damaged in any way by me.

I do consider it unreasonable that it has failed 11 months out of warranty considering these aviation GPS units are not cheap to start with.

ToryBoy - I'll mention your experience, and PM you if they want actual names etc.

SSD

This begs the question, "what is wrong with it?". Legally speaking, Garmin may not be on the hook, but certainly I think that you are entitled to an explanation as to why the unit spontaneously failed and is considered irrepairably damaged by the manufacturer. Assuming that you didn't abuse it in some way, then either this particular unit had a unique manufacturing defect (in which case Garmin should replace it, warranty expiry or not), or there is a generic defect in the product (which sounds unlikely, and if true I and others on this forum will want to hear all about it).

My advice is do not be hostile or argumentative (since if you do they may well just tell you to :mad: off), but by all means keep up a gentle but determined pressure. If the person that you are speaking with can't or won't help you, ask to speak to their supervisor, and push it up the chain until you get a result that you can live with.

SSD My Pilot III internal batteries died and refused to recharge despite following Garmin's advice and leaving it off for a week with new batteries in it (there is a thread about it from a few weeks ago). The internal batteries (Li-Ion I think) are supposed to have a 10 year life. I bought mine from HM at the PFA Rally 2 years ago. I returned it to HM who have sent it to Garmin. Regardless of the warranty, I am not expecting to pay more than postage for getting this unit reparied as the internal batteries should, by Garmin's definition, last a lot longer than a couple of years.

A Result!!!!!
 

Good news from Garmin. I wrote pointing out that I though it unreasonable for my Pilot 111 to fail so young and for me to be charged for replacement, and did they think they had correctly assessed the situation.

Today, a free replacement Pilot 111 arrived in the post.

Result!!

Thanks to PPRuNers for telling me of your experiences with Garmin, and for encoraging me not to just accept that I'd be ripped off.

Thanks to Garmin for taking the reasonable stance.

SSD

SSD,

That's great! Glad to hear that it all worked out.

No doubt Garmin recognized that word gets around, and that it would be better to stand behind their product than to hide behind the letter of the law in their warranty provisions. Good for them.

MLS-12D

Glad it worked SSD

Glad they did that. Same happened to me - a 3 yr old PilotIII would just switch itself off after 5 mins and sometimes would not come on at all. They replaced it free after sending it in for examination.

I had a few email discussion with one of their techies about it. The problem seems to come from putting in rechargeable batteries of a certain kind. Which I had done. They have a characteristic that fries a power management circuit. It is a well known problem apparently.

Cheers

WWW

"Pilot 111 dead after 2 years."

Gee if I'm still flying then I won't winge

Glad they did that. Same happened to me - a 3 yr old PilotIII would just switch itself off after 5 mins and sometimes would not come on at all. They replaced it free after sending it in for examination.

I had a few email discussion with one of their techies about it. The problem seems to come from putting in rechargeable batteries of a certain kind. Which I had done. They have a characteristic that fries a power management circuit. It is a well known problem apparently.

I'd only ever used Duracells in mine - don't have any rechargables. And it had led a cossetted life, that's why I was tad annoyed when it died so young...

SSD

WWW wrote
I had a few email discussion with one of their techies about it. The problem seems to come from putting in rechargeable batteries of a certain kind. Which I had done. They have a characteristic that fries a power management circuit. It is a well known problem apparently.


It'd be useful to have a clue to the "certain kind", as the problem is clearly not well-enough known, and maybe a few more of us could avoid falling into the same trap.:ok:

Cheers

WCollins - I work for Dixons, so it makes me all warm inside to think you've found a way of screwing them! No really - I'm not being sarcastic - nice one!