Garmin out of warranty negative experience

Well this is interesting, I had my vivoactive 4 around 3 years, it developed a fault and they replaced with a recon unit free of charge.

My partner however got a 4S, it’s now failed and is out of warranty around 3 years and they won’t replace, this is really disappointing as poor lass has alot on her plate and this just adds to it.

Only 3 years old, fails out the blue and they won’t replace just seems unfair. I think it’s because her model is discontinued, our option was £140 for another of the same or 30% off a new watch.

I am trying with support but they aren’t budging, I mean to spend £250 and have it fail 3 years in is bad luck but also is now really putting me off getting another. Seen lots of positive out of warranty stories and this is just the opposite…anyone had similar experience?

I’ve had two Garmin watches replaced under warranty. The experience was seamless. If the warranty had expired I wouldn’t expect anything. Any goodwill offer made out of warranty previously is generous on their part and doesn’t obligate them to do it again. We all know what the warranty period is when we buy an expensive item and we know we are on our own when it expires. That’s just how it works. Most watches will be fine for well beyond the warranty, a few won’t. Which kind you get is down to luck.

Wahoo gave me 20% off anything when my Bolt screen started to “bleed” after it was out of warranty. They didn’t have to do it so I was happy with that.

our option was £140 for another of the same or 30% off a new watch.

Seems like a fair offer that they were under no obligation to make

Whether you think a 3 year lifespan is reasonable or not for a smart watch the warranty is two years.  After that it’s whatever goodwill they will offer.

Having had two failures you have to weigh up the cost and risk of another brand at market price or using the goodwill discount and hoping lightning doesn’t strike a third time.  Of course if you buy another brand you could still have a problem just out of warranty and get no help and you already know how Garmin stuff works for setup etc.  Personally I’d probably get the Garmin and use the discount (if I thought I wanted a smart watch at all).

It’s not helpful to compare warranty tales with goodwill requests.  They are different.

Regrettably op this topic is likely to get messy on here, it shouldn’t but it likely will. Don’t take it to heart it’s the STW way on occasion.

(Not aimed at commenters above!)

More importantly, I hope your partner fairs well with what she is working through mate.

My bil got a partial refund on a faulty TV week out of warranty recently after contacting Citizens Advice, it all hinges upon what was considered reasonable life of the product from what he said. Might we worth asking their advice, you never know.

Good luck either way.

Thanks folks, yeah probably optimistic on my part. Was more the fact they replaced mine, and won’t hers! Likely due to new model out I reckon… £140 and you only get a years warranty with refurbs and if it does it again after that year it’s been an expensive watch!
just frustrating really when one minute it can be fine and the next it stops tracking heartrate.

I’d go as far to say I’d appreciate it if it was being used as an activity watch! She takes it off to shower and is a new mum so does sod all physical tracked activity anyway aside from chasing around after him and the odd swimming class!

How tight is the wristband? If it is loose then heart rate is going to be random anyway…sensors needs darkness to be as effective as it can be.

Likely due to new model out I reckon… £140 and you only get a years warranty with refurbs and if it does it again after that year it’s been an expensive watch!

FWIW (many years ago), a similar thing happened to an Edge cycle computer that was outside warranty and they offered the same – half price on a refurb model with a 1yr warranty or a new one (with full warranty) at a discount.

I think modern consumer electronics of that sort of nature, you’re doing well to get much over 5 years from them anyway. White goods, TVs etc still last but watches, GPS devices, tablets really start to show their age.

As above, half price refurb or discount on a new model is pretty good for an out of warranty model. My hunch is that they are more generous than that when dealing with a product that has failed with a known (maybe to just them, or to the pitch fork wielding forum mobs too) issue.

I had a Vivoactive 4 and before that a Fenix 5, great watches while they last. Which isn’t as long as you’d like IMVHO. The Vivoactive line are great fitness watches, but they aren’t robust. Mine was replaced during warranty and then failed completely at just over three and a bit years, but I did use it every day.

after my experience with the Fenix 5 I didn’t bother contacting Garmin support on the Vivoactive 4, as with the Fenix 5 (2.5 years and failed) all I got was the offer of a recon unit for £170 or so I can’t quite recall now, and at the time I could go get a new watch for only a wee bit more, so that’s what I did.

to add to the comments above, I find garmin warranty disappointing only in so much as I do expect a 300+ watch to last a bit longer than 2 years, they feel a bit of a disposable commodity, which I’m not a fan of. As neither of my garmin watches that failed could be repaired – something I asked garmin about and a few third party watch repair services.
But before someone points out to me to the “it’s only a 2 year warranty mate” I do know that, it can still be disappointing that the watches don’t last longer and aren’t repairable.

but they are the best fitness watches out there with great battery life, so until that changes I’m still using a garmin watch, currently the Epix.

My partners Forerunner 55 occasionally stops tracking heartrate, switch off and restart and it’s fine (maybe once every 6 months?). It needed a complete reset/software “cleanse” (and a watch cleanse at the same time!) in the summer.

It’s around 3 years old, is worn continually except for about 15 minutes every afternoon, 7 days a week. It looks about 10 years old.

My Vivoactive must be about 9 yrs old and other than the battery life being poorer than it had been, it’s still fine – in spite of all the trees/rocks etc it’s hit over the years.

They used to be good at offering cheap refurbed models as replacements for out of warranty failures (annoyingly they’d never allow me a discount off a newer model) but perhaps their policy has changed. I suppose that it also depends on whether they have an appropriate refurbed model to offer

I am trying with support but they aren’t budging,

If by this you mean that you’re just adding to a ticket/case where someone’s already said no, then I suspect you’re banging your head against a brick wall. It’s probably worth resubmitting your request through a new contact form and see if someone more agreeable picks it up.

My understanding is that Garmin watches are not really made to repaired, there isn’t even battery change option available.

Now there could be some sympathy towards packaging incredible amounts of tech in a very small waterproof thing but other view is that they are disposable appliances.

Suunto and Polar (for most Polar watches) offer repairs and battery changes but they are not  as feature rich.

40% off a new one with the STW discounts

40% off a new one with the STW discounts

And with Blue Light and Defence Discount cards, plus quite a few others. 40% off full Garmin RRP too, which loads of retailers undercut. Not many people with the nous to shop around pay full RRP. It’s a useful discount, don’t get me wrong, but not quite as good as advertised. Not slagging it off, just managing expectations! 😉

My understanding is that Garmin watches are not really made to repaired, there isn’t even battery change option available.

My out of warranty Fenix 5 is now a bit flaky when it comes to charging it and takes unholy amounts of fiddling and ‘just so’ placement of watch and charger cable, Garmin help desk couldn’t offer me a re-furb or a new charger cable as they don’t stock either. Offer was ‘buy a new watch at 30% discount” I get that it’s out of warranty, but 5 years for a product that costs north of £500 new is pretty shoddy when they don’t carry spares for it. Luckily for me a new charger from Amazon has made the charging process a bit less troublesome, but when that stops, I don’t think I’ll bother with any more Garmin products

40% off a new one with the STW discounts

When you can get an off the shelf offer that’s better than the customer service offer, you just know a company doesn’t give a shit

When you can get an off the shelf offer that’s better than the customer service offer, you just know a company doesn’t give a shit

Hardly unique to Garmin, it’s just a way of tempting new customers in. Buy [new thing] at 40% off, get the customer into that “brand” of accessories and apps (cos you just know they’re all going to be proprietary…), [new thing] dies after 2-3 years and most customers will simply agree that it’s a fair lifetime and by then there’ll be a new model out anyway so the company gets to “upgrade” the customer.

Mobile phones are the classic ones for that process but most wearables and similar small electronics are the same. It’s not a very environmentally sound process…

I think you are being a bit unfair to Garmin. Yes it’s frustrating when something breaks but you have said yourself that they have replaced yours our of warranty and now offered your partner a discount off a replacement for hers. This seems pretty good out of warranty service. You said yourself that the watch is discontinued so a discount seems an obvious solution. Not sure what they have done wrong TBH. I think your reaction may be due to the good service you received yourself setting the bar high for your expectations this time. If you are not happy with the service then try your luck with another brand.

 so the company gets to “upgrade” the customer.

Oh sure, I get how the system works. For Garmin it makes zero sense to carry spares (charger cables in my case) for your products when Amazon resellers fulfill that role at no cost at all to Garmin, plus they probably still make decent profit with a 30% discount and they get to keep you in the Garmin product upgrade cycle. Understanding the process doesn’t really soften the blow when you’ve owned an expensive product for just 5 years and Garmin thinks it’s at the end of its useful life span and there’s not even an attempt to offer a repair service.

40% off a new one with the STW discounts

As above – numerous cards/memberships gets this but it’s rather a disingenuous headline imo. There was a time when the discount was applied to a lot of models in the range – now it’s a very small number and again as above those models can also be bought heavily discounted if you shop around. Think more of it as access to their outlet store….and most of us know where they end up in an outlet store.

. For Garmin it makes zero sense to carry spares (charger cables in my case) for your products when Amazon resellers fulfill that role at no cost at all to Garmin

Huh? You know you can just buy a new proper garmin (as opposed to 3rd party amazon special) charging cable for about 20 quid. 5 years seems a fair enough lifetime for a cable that gets plugged in and out all the time and therefore suffers wear and tear.

Huh? You know you can just buy a new proper garmin (as opposed to 3rd party amazon special) charging cable for about 20 quid.

Huh, y’know that the customer help-line didn’t even offer that as a choice? They don’t want to sell you a £20.00 charger cable, they want you to upgrade the watch, that’s the point of the customer service help desk. When you can but a £3.00 thing (that may or may not solve your problem) why would you buy the £20.00 thing? (that may or not solve your problem)

Huh, y’know that the customer help-line didn’t even offer that as a choice? They don’t want to sell you a £20.00 charger cable, they want you to upgrade the watch, that’s the point of the customer service help desk. When you can but a £3.00 thing (that may or may not solve your problem) why would you buy the £20.00 thing? (that may or not solve your problem)

It was just you said that garmin dont carry spare cables, when they clearly do , you’ve just got to pay for it through their retail channels rather than expect an out of warranty freebie from customer support.Which I don’t think is too bad for a 5 year old product, 5 years is a long time in consumer electronics.

Do you also expect garmin to give you a new strap when the old one wears out?

I think what doesn’t help with the short lifespan of wearable tech is back in the day when you spent £500 on a watch that was a lifetime investment – not something to replace in a couple of years.

I have a vivoactive 3 which pretty much fulfils my needs (would be nice to have a breadcrumb map I can follow). The battery on it recently got down to under 2hrs they replaced the watch (4 yrs old) for £60 which was more than I wanted to spend I was happy with.

It was just you said that garmin dont carry spare cables, when they clearly do

Just to be clear, it was the customer service agent that told me they don’t carry spare charging cables for the Fenix 5, and I wasn’t looking for a freebie either I was looking to either have my watch repaired (which I was happy to pay for), or just offered a solution to it’s terrible re-charging performance other than “Here, buy a new watch” as y’know, they clearly know that the charging cable wears out. – they’ve redesigned it after all.

Do you also expect garmin to give you a new strap when the old one wears out?

Again, I wasn’t looking for a freebie, but Garmin make it pretty clear from the get-go that the strap is a consumable item, so no I don’t. But I do expect to be able to charge the thing, even if only for the 5 years Garmin expect it to be usable.

I think your missing a trick here OP, Christmas on the horizon and Black Friday looming, there’s some easy points on the table to be scored here.

I know nothing about your partner or their requirements off the mark opening suggestion:

http://Garmin Venu Sq Music- Smartwatch Green https://amzn.eu/d/185EPis

My Fenix 5 Plus had corroded charging pins, which I felt was fairly obviously a fault, rather than wear and tear, and was only just out of warranty, I think. I was pretty disappointed that the only option Garmin could offer me was a very expensive refurb as a replacement. I think it was cheaper to buy a new one.

as y’know, they clearly know that the charging cable wears out. – they’ve redesigned it after all.

I don’t think they have – same charging cable for my 5 plus and 7. Looks the same for the 8 too.

Shame you didn’t buy it off Brant.

Just for info: Garmin watches on CEX come with a 24 month warranty. .

Consumer Rights Act states that goods have to be of “satisfactory quality” and you can claim against this up to six years from receipt.

Of course, whether it’s reasonable to expect a smartwatch to fail after three years is subjective. A £500 watch you’d probably expect more from, a £40 watch not so much.

I think that, as detailed within this thread, different people have very different perspectives on how long a smartwatch should be expected to last. The two year warranty is on top of consumer rights, though, don’t forget. Buying something with a two year warranty doesn’t mean that you are agreeing that you can only expect to use it for two years.

If you think that two years is a reasonable expectation, then I guess you personally accept that the two year warranty is what you’ve got, and all that you expect. However, if you think that your watch has failed prematurely (beyond two years) then you can make your case based on consumer rights instead of the warranty. Note that the responsibility lies with the retailer, not Garmin, though things can get a bit fuzzy.

I’ve had three instances over the years of Garmin products failing outside of warranty. With one (quite recently) it was only just out of warranty, and I didn’t even have to argue – they just skipped straight to sending me a replacement. With the other two they were initially adamant that no warranty => no joy. But I stood firm and insisted that the devices had failed prematurely, based on any realistic expectations. Essentially I said that 3 years (or whatever it was) was not a reasonable expected lifespan for an expensive watch. They accepted that and replaced for free.

With these things being complex and expensive, I think that 2 years and then nothing is absolutely not OK. Five years is pushing it though (technology moves on fast and e.g. not many people use smartphone for 5 years). 3-4 years is a grey zone. But that’s just me – I have no idea how a small claim court action would go.

@nickc It might be worth trying a contact cleaning pen – it fixed the charging problem on an old Garmin of mine

Seems random. My instinct started to randomly turn off when in use about a year or so out of warranty. To my surprise they just gave me an instinct 2 for free. Admittedly in a odd colour (blue) but I was pretty happy (and then went and bought a fenix 7 pro as I didn’t like the colour ?)

That’s a good post @gray and I’d go with times in years

Thanks all, so the issue is out of the blue it stopped charging properly and now the green sensors for measuring don’t work at all so nothing can be tracked and it keeps asking to to install an update which it can’t do.

So it’s clear something between the update process has likely buggered it.

I think that’s my point really. A £250 watch and it lasting only 3 years is alot of money for something that doesn’t last long. Take away the gimmick features and make it more stable in my eyes! Hydration tracker yet you still need to add it up as you go…. Pointless. Obvs adds to your body battery but it’s just a bit meh in my eyes.

See where we go, shame as it’s tarnished the great rep we’ve had with Garmin kit so far, watched just seem flaky

Sending hugs. I once ordered a watch I didn’t need as it was super cheap and Garmin cancelled the order and took nearly a week to refund. I’ve never got over it. Bunch of swines.

Thanks all, so the issue is out of the blue it stopped charging properly and now the green sensors for measuring don’t work at all so nothing can be tracked and it keeps asking to to install an update which it can’t do.

Have you tried a factory reset?  It sounds like it might be a software problem, which might be fixable by factory resetting it.

Worth a try before binning it at least, you have nothing to lose except 30mins of your time setting it up again