Garmin Woes

Have I ever mentioned how much trouble I seem to attract when it comes to techie-type things?

I am about to go archaic and give up email, cell phones, computers, and even my Garmin.

After finally getting a new laptop and then replacing it within four days because of a hardware issue, I have been able to start to put things back together for our business and personal household management.

This nifty new laptop brings with it the latest OS, Vista. Vista is quite quirky and does not like very much. It randomly shuts down with not apparent reason. It won't recognize software that should be easily recognized, ie Quickbooks, Quicken, Microsoft Word, etc. Oh, and it would not recognize my Garmin software without the updates.

Like a dutiful lemming, I surfed on over to Garmin to retrieve the latest updates. All seemed well in Oz until I went for a run last night. The 305, which by the way is 10 days past it's one year warranty, can't find the satellites. I will admit that at times I do feel like I am in the Twilight Zone, but having the ForeRunner confirm it was a bit unnerving!

I have attempted to contact Garmin through their website, but for some reason, their email support is not functioning and they do not list an actual email address to contact them.

I had to resort to the phone. After a mere 35 minute wait on hold, a dear man, Anthony, came to the rescue. He walked me through some steps which didn't yield a fix, so Anthony issued me a WRMA!! A WRMA is much different the a RMA because the "W" stands for WARRANTY!! This sweet man felt my plight and authorized this fix to be done under warranty AND determined it should be expedited! If this unit can not be repaired, it will be replaced!! THANK YOU!!

After having my HP crash 1 month out of warranty a few weeks ago and hearing that I couldn't have it repaired or replaced, I was not feeling very hopeful about my Garmin. Anthony has restored my hope in customer service.

I did get a run in last night. It was perfect weather for it. A 6 mile loop with a 10:47 pace push my reset button and the world was a happy place again.

I managed at run on the new trails at George Mitchell Nature Preserve. It was a nice run at dusk. I'd like to see them extend the trail so it is longer than the 2 mile loop. It was be great to have real trails close to home. Maybe if Anthony from Garmin had some input, it would happen!!