Warning: Garmin now refuses to provide support unless proof of purchase is sent to them

2156903 said:

Here in EU it is illegal to refuse warranty and serial number and device use history are acceptables means of establishing proof of ownership under EU juresprudence.

How is the manufacturer supposed to check whether you are still under warranty and entitled to it if there is no proof of purchase of the device (invoice) ?

By law serial number and history usage are deemed sufficient for the proof of ownership. Of someone gifts you a device or you loose a receipt, do you really think this voids warranty? There is manufacturing defect with the watch - buttons do not work. And to cut down costs they try to get out of warranty work. I've been Garmin customer for more than ten years. There have been badly designed products before. But this is the first time I see them go as low as deny warranty coverage.

I asked for legal advice.

2156903 said:

By law serial number and history usage are deemed sufficient for the proof of ownership. Of someone gifts you a device or you loose a receipt, do you really think this voids warranty?

As I understand it, your warranty is for a certain period of time. If you experience product failure at some point beyond that period of time, there is no warranty coverage.

The question of whether warranty service should be provided does not rely on proof of ownership, but rather proof of how long it has been since the watch was originally purchased.

Even if you have proof of ownership as you describe, i.e. serial number and history of usage, that does not prove when you came into possession of the watch or when the watch was originally purchased.

Unless you can present proof of when the watch was purchased, and show that you are within the warrantied time, then Garmin has no obligation to provide free of charge warranty service.

Can you prove when the watch was purchased?

HTH

According to case law in EU this is not the case. This reasoning might apply elsewhere but in EU, the serial number and history of ownership (ie. Garmin connect) are enough to argue warranty period. Another legal difference in EU vs elsewhere is that some products have three year warranty independently of manufacturer offering and also warranty is transferable through second hand purchase.

I did not want to trigger uninformed discussion. Just give a summary of may experience with Garmin and how they turned their back to their customers. I hope your experience differs. I just give my perspective and the information I have. For me the next step would be repair he watch and claim the cost of repair through small claims EU court. I would not recommend or use Garmin products in the future.

2156903 said:

According to case law in EU this is not the case. This reasoning might apply elsewhere but in EU, the serial number and history of ownership (ie. Garmin connect) are enough to argue warranty period.

I'm not sure if your information is correct. There is a different view in many legal forums.

2156903 said:

For me the next step would be repair he watch and claim the cost of repair through small claims EU court. I

If the watch was purchased more than 12 months ago, you as the buyer / owner are obliged to prove that the fault was not caused by you. That is a fact.

So if you want to take legal action, you should be able to prove that you used the product in accordance with the manufacturer's instructions. In your case, you would have to prove that you did not press any buttons under water, that you did not scuba dive with the watch, that you rinsed the watch well after contact with salt water, etc.

As stated in the operating instructions.

If you think that there is a design fault in the watch, you should be able to prove this with an expert opinion. A reference to reports of a problem on the Internet will not be enough.

In the end, it will cost you a lot of time and money.

Good luck.

2156903 said:

I hope your experience differs.

Yes, it does. I have been using Garmin watches since 2016 (f3HR). Several watches have been replaced over the years. Most recently my Instinct 3 solar. One phone call to support. They wanted some photos of the error pattern and the Garmin folder of the watch to be able to investigate the case. At the same time, they exchanged the watch. I had my new watch after 3 days. 

I didn't pay anything extra. Garmin created a shipping label and paid the shipping costs for the return.