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$860 to Replace Marq Battery?!

AdamTKincaid
over 3 years ago

I've had my MARQ Expedition for almost two and a half years. In that time, it's never left my side other than a quick charge or when I am in shower. It's gotten more use and joy than any phone or device i've owned. However, I have noticed that the battery life has gone down a bit and rather than charging every 3-4 days of use, I am charging it every 2-3 days. I expect this watch to last 5+ years, but I know batteries don't usually make it that long.

So I reached out to customer support about what it would take to get the battery replaced. Here was their response:

  • 7-10 days for service
  • $860 fee, not including tax

Keep in mind, most luxury watches don't have batteries. (The ones that do you're supposed to service every year. Garmin has never made that claim with their devices.) For luxury watches with a battery change you're usually looking at about a $60-$120 fee dependent on the watch and its complexity. For lower end watches maybe $30-$50.

So why is this so expensive at Garmin? According to Garmin Customer Support:

Customer Support: "When you bring the device in, the engineers will not only address the battery, but any part on the device that is needing replacement. And if they find repairs that cannot be completed, they will replace the watch entirely with brand new. So for this analysis, it is a flat rate of repair."

Me: "So i'd be paying for $760 worth of services i don't need?"

Customer Support: "This is the amount that our engineers have settled on for the cost of a repair, yes."

And despite what DC Rainmaker and other blogger's claimed in their reviews of the MARQ line back in 2019, there is no such thing as a 'Garmin Battery Replacement Program.' Never existed, never will.

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to AdamTKincaid
    AdamTKincaid said:
    And while not 'Garmin official'

    The man in the interview is from Garmin.

    bluefish said:
    Fuad Medosevic from Garmin as a guest

    https://www.apollo.io/people/Fuad/Medosevic/5f5d8bf5f7b38c00013a477b

    https://blickpunktjuwelier.de/exklusive-referenzen-fuer-premium-juweliere-bei-garmin/

    In this Interwiev he said (translated) the following :

    ...."In this connection, it would also be worth mentioning the special service. Only in the MARQ collection, for example, WE *  also offer the possibility of replacing the battery. IN FUTURE (video over a year old). Or also the possibility to replace the bezel or the display. Here we take into account the needs of the watch trade by offering a special service."

    * WE = GARMIN

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to bluefish

    When I bought it (more than 2 years ago now) a text like that was shown on the German website - what for me was an argument to buy this expensive watch, otherwise a normal Fenix would have done the job.  Nerd

    But this promises are gone now and all they offer is a normal 'renewed' watch ... like they did in the past for the 'cheap' watches.  Would an 'onest' manufacturer practice that way?!  Money mouth

    Would be really interesting to see any 'official' comments from the Garmin team !!

  • 0 over 3 years ago

    This is absolutely crazy.. I come from omegas/Rolex. You pay the premium and get the kit as well as promise it will last forever with a REASONABLE service cost. I am not going to stress over this because you “can” replace the batteries. F5 videos and older watches all over. It take a little bit of know how but nothing impossible. What I worry about is a cracked screen.. in that case I’m sure you’d have to bite the bullet and pay for a refurbished unit. Hopefully garmin reads all this and decides to alter their policy. Surely they are smart enough to figure this one out. 

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to Chefntech

    Does not look they are smart enough ... they just 'sit and wait' what's a shame, isn't it?!

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to DerechteKlinke

    I actually stumbled across an exploded view. Look like the battery is directly behind the back plate and would be easy to replace. The screen on the other hand is most likely proprietary with the gps and such. 

  • 0 over 2 years ago

    I have a Garmin Marq Athlete which I bought in September 2019. This has cost a lot of money and one of the reasons for the purchase was indeed the battery replacement program promise. 

    I would expect to pay around  $100 for a battery replacement, but not $860! That is a complete rip-off and if that is the case, I will never buy a Garmin device again. I was waiting for the Fenix 7 to be released to purchase it as an additional watch, but I will no longer buy it if the quote for the battery replacement repair is $860 on my Marq. 

    This would be a real shame, I really like the Marq series and for the first time ever I thought I found the perfect and only watch I'll ever need to cover all my needs as an Athlete, smartwatch and looks. 

    I absolutely love the watch, however my battery life can now only do 36 hours from a full charge.

    What is strange is that even when I turn SPo2 and Wrist HR sensors off or even when I enable Low Power mode, the battery drain is the same. 

    I tried everything in terms of support articles to reduce the drain on the battery, but nothing works.

    I just opened a ticket with Garmin, I seem to be out of warranty at this time by about 3-4 months which again is really annoying as I had these issues since the beginning of last year when I was still in warranty and thought it may be software related, I waited for new software to be released hoping the issue would be fixed and it never was. 

    I would definitely not pay $860 for a repair, I would probably just retire the watch and never buy anything Garmin again. 

    Very disappointed at this point.

  • 0 over 2 years ago

    If everyone who writes here about MARQ battery, contacts Garmin and asks for a battery replacement service with some meaningful price, I think Garmin will feel it's have to do something.

    Otherwise, one of you removes the screws and checks the battery model. Then find it in the İnternet, buy and replace it or have it replaced to some repair shop. Finding the battery may be harder to replacing. :) 

  • 0 over 2 years ago

    Garmin,

    You have to do way better than this in this battery replacement matter. It is not only a matter of respect for your customers based on what it was promised but offering such arrangements will move away future buyers from investing (because yes, we invested in Marq series) in MARQ v2.

    I am still ok with my Marq after using 2 and a half years in respect to battery usage, of course I am now recharging it every 4-5 days - initially it was every 7-8 days, but soon it looks like I will need a replacement and based on Garmin solution at that time I will rethink my approach to Garmin products.

    All the best.

  • 0 over 2 years ago

    And furthermore, why Garmin does not simply offer ONLY the battery replacement and not this "will open the watch and replace anything that is wrong and will charge you XXX for this". Some will only need a simle battery replacement w/o the premium solution Garmin is forcing us to take!

  • 0 over 2 years ago in reply to meste7

    Agreed. This is the definition of racketeering.