Garmin Edge 520 owner adds to criticism of firm’s out of warranty support

A Garmin Edge 520 owner has criticised the support offered to owners of out of warranty units after being asked to pay £95 for a refurbished unit when the battery in his ceased to hold its charge.

Last week we reported how a number of owners of the original Tacx Neo smart trainer have been complaining that new parent company Garmin will not provide support once the unit is out of warranty. One told road.cc of his frustration at being left with “a very expensive paperweight” after downloading the latest firmware into an otherwise mint condition unit.

Mark Jones said Garmin was, “not willing to provide any support, repair, replacement or any dialogue as to what was wrong with the unit,” and said all he was offered was a 20 per cent discount off a new trainer.

Jonnie McCrea got in touch with us to tell us about a similar experience he’d had with his Garmin Edge 520.

After three-and-a-half years, the battery in the unit now only lasts two hours, so he contacted the firm to find out whether it could be repaired.

He was informed by Garmin Product Support: “Based on the information you have provided we will need to book your Garmin device in for a replacement. As your device is out of warranty (purchased more than 24 months ago), we can offer to replace your device for a fixed replacement cost of £94.97.”

McCrea learned that such a replacement would only have a 90 day warranty, against a 24-month warranty for a new unit, which would cost £149.

“After three years this device is effectively scrap as the feature of 15 hour battery life is but a distant memory,” he said

McCrea suggested to Garmin that the shorter warranty period on the refurbished unit seemed to indicate that the firm had less confidence in the quality and longevity of the device.

The somewhat garbled response he received from Garmin customer support in reply essentially boiled down to, ‘you can get a cheaper unit with a short warranty period or a full price unit with a full warranty’.

“There is no point spending two-thirds of the new price for something with only an eighth of the warranty,” McCrea concluded and he plans to buy a new one.

Garmin failed to respond to a request for comment.