Have switched to the wrong subscription - help

Hi Guys,

I originally signed up for the freedom plans as I only use the device periodically. The last time I reactivated the plan, which was last week I seem to have switched on to the contract plan by mistake. I wrote to Garmin [email][email protected][/email] but had no reply.

Could anyone tell me what I could do to resolve, as its asking me for a $200 payment to cancel the plan. Am based in Sydney Australia. Account: AUD558271

Thanks!

Bhanu

0 SUSSAMB over 5 years ago

Call product support.

0 twolpert over 5 years ago

Had a difficult time finding the support numbers for Australia, but did find this page.

Please don't post personal information like your account ID. The forums are public. Garmin employees sometimes read the forums, and even post occasionally. But the forums are mostly peer-to-peer. When you need to interact with Garmin, you do need to contact them directly as Sussamb suggests.

0 BhanuL over 5 years ago

Thanks guys, appreciate the advice :)

0 BhanuL over 5 years ago

Spoke to them, they have reverted my plan back to freedom plans at no cost. That's good.

I am still confused about the billing - I understood from earlier that tracking itself does not cost extra. I seem to have been charged for "tracking' at units 13 or 18 periodically. Is this when someone is using the tracking website to 'track me'? Is there a way to stop people from tracking me and only seeing my movements being automatically tracked?

Would appreciate any help, thanks!

0 twolpert over 5 years ago

Cost of a track point depends on your plan. For the Safety plan, track points are 10 cents each in the US. Not sure about Australia. For other US plans, unlimited track points are included. It doesn't matter why the track points were sent.

I am not aware of any way in which others can initiate tracking on the device. Depending on your settings, MapShare users may be able to send messages to the unit (which would be charged against any message allowance on your selected plan). They may also be able to send a locate request. I don't remember for sure, but I believe a locate is also charged as single message. You can control permissions for MapShare users from your account at inreach.garmin.com. Social tab, MapShare Settings button. If you change any options, be sure to click the Save Changes button in the pop-up.

0 neilfurmidge over 5 years ago

I'm in the UK and had the same problem last night. I clicked the big green re-activate button but it then took me to what I later found out was the contract plan options. This is another poor situation with the Explore front end software. It's annoying and frustrating, to have to jump from one application to another to synch the device and then have to follow up with a further earthmate sync just to get it function how it should, but it's another thing entirely to mess about with contracts and invoices, particularly with the threat of hefty early cancellation fees.

I had some pre-loaded credit on the device which was partially consumed instantly and then I received an invoice via email. I immediately contacted the phone numbers and support chat etc. on the invoice but it was too late for UK office hours. I rang them again today and was horrified to discover that despite having gone through several automated phone menus to inReach billing the advisers cannot provide any support regarding inReach billing. They did send an email link to the support page which has numbers for inReach North America or Canada. I rang back to check and yep, no UK billing support only via international calls with 6 hour time differences or email.

Let's hope I do receive a reply to my email.

0 Garmin-Heath over 5 years ago

neilfurmidge Sorry about your experience. After looking into your claim more, it looks like it has already been taken care of and you should be getting updated information on this later in the week.

0 neilfurmidge over 5 years ago

Garmin-Heath
Hmmm, thanks but no not taken care of at all.

I have had no response to my email.

I have however received yet another invoice. Looking through the charges it would appear:

I have been refunded some (not all) of the credit that was taken from my account yesterday, for the brief and unwanted period on annual contract between yesterdays office hours.
I have then been charged £20.82 for downgrading to the safety plan - despite at no point ever requesting to be on a safety plan.
I have then been refunded the same amount as the downgrade to the safety plan (the one I never asked for).
I have then been charged £149.30 for a reminder about the contract safety plan - the one that I never asked to be on. This money was taken from my credit card account today!!!!!!!
I have then had a reverse credit transaction for that amount however the money is NOT in my account!!!!!!
I have then been charged for the Freedom Plan Annual Registration Fee £20.82 - which I already paid in February when I first registered the device.
I have then been charged the Freedom Recreation Plan which I requested in the first place.

The only charge in the invoice that is correct would be the last one. Everything else is wrong and the Freedom Annual Plan Registration has been charged for twice . Forgive me but I do not consider that as taken care of, far from it. To send further invoices and to take further funds without responding to my email or contacting me first is appalling and highlights Garmin's priorities regarding customer care.

To add insult to injury both the email and the invoice provide the UK contact numbers to call regarding any queries, which when I call first thing in the morning, I am quite certain will tell me there is absolutely nothing they can do and I will need to ring international call cost to North America or Canada or send another email and hope for the best.

This is beyond bad customer service. Significant sums of money are being incorrectly taken from my account without any input from myself and without any real method of contacting Garmin to resolve these issues! Like many other UK customers, if I had known it would not be possible to get customer billing support from the UK prior to purchase then I would not have purchased from Garmin and bought an alternative product. This should be made very clear on all UK sales material.

0 Garmin-Heath over 5 years ago

neilfurmidge I have reached out to your local support teams and was told they have already talked to you about this. If you continue to have any issues, please reach out to them again and let them know.

0 BobT over 5 years ago

neilfurmidge I also have had the issue as you. I bought an InReach Mini in January this year, subscribed to the Freedom Safety Plan for a month to practice with it and then suspended it.

I went to reactivate the plan two weeks ago and was presented with four price options so I selected the £14.99 per month.
Within minutes I had an email from Garmin Billing but I was horrified to see that I’d been put onto the Annual Contract.
As soon as it was open I rang the UK number only to be told I had to contact Garmin Billing in the USA so I sent them an email and also sent a copy to the UK Support.
Four days passed with no response to my email so I contacted Garmin Uk again (who I have to say we’re very helpful) and they basically gave Garmin Billing a kick up the backside and it was sorted out up to a point.
I received a couple of emails from Billing that made it look as though they were doing me a favour by putting me onto the correct plan, the one I’d assumed I would be put on by default seeing as it was the one I had suspended and I was very relieved.

In the back of my mind I’d always thought I was only given the pricing options and nothing referred to the Annual Contract.
Upon discovering this thread I realised that I was not the only one and furthermore because of your overcharges I had a look at my bank statements and found that despite the credits, etc, which were to me very confusing I have had £16.99 taken from my account instead of £14.99.

I now firmly believe that the only option I was presented with was the Annual Contract and have since highlighted this with Garmin in the hope that they will be able to rectify it to save others from going through this unnecessary hassle and stress and I’ve also pointed them to this particular thread. I