Can't find my way to support

That last post reminded me of another thing, how service affects bottom line...

About eight - ten weeks ago, Garmin opened operations in Australia under their own aegis. They'd been using another company as their presence here before that. I won't say who, but I will say I got my GME TX3220 UHF CB from them... %)

The day that Garmin went live, I phoned about a product they had, which would let me use my own GPS module with Garmin software and maps, on my laptop. After being on hold for ages (surely they couldn't have such a huge demand for support on their first day? Surely their product isn't that inscrutable?) I got through to a gentleman who had no idea what I wanted, and when I mentioned I'd downloaded their free software as an evaluation, he told me that he didn't have that software available to him, and he promised me faithfully he'd get back to me on both matters.

Four week later, I rang again and asked if anyone had made progress with the software bug I'd encountered, or with the commercial software I was quite prepared to buy. This gentleman swappee email addresses with me and promised he'd get back to me when he found out what had happened.

He didn't respond to an email I sent a few days later, so I let it rest. But another three weeks later (and almost EIGHT WEEKS since I'd originally contacted Garmin) I phoned again. I was, undertsandably, not pleased.

Turns out, the software I was after was not due for release in Australia yet. But no-one could be fucked to follow up and tell me, apparently.

And the "free software" as claimed on their website, is a free add-on, you have to have bought another piece of software first. Just that they neglected to mention that, nor could they be fucked to follow up with that, either.

Oh yeah - and I now have a really GREAT Uniden GPS for my vehicles, it's wayyy cheaper than this other product, works without needing their tech support to ignore me for eight weeks, and I totally love it! Pick one up for under $200 at any of several chain store outlets, wayyyyyy better than the G word.