Heartland Victim?

Citibank just canceled a credit card of mine and issued me new cards. The new cards came with this insert:

Upon calling to activate my new cards, an automated recording confirmed what their security message said "your card ending in xx has been compromised or stolen". The Citi rep who came on the line added that Citi doesn't know which merchant caused the problem, that Visa had sent over a list of account numbers and that Citi was issuing new cards as a precaution.

With all the recent news, like here and here, on Heartland's losing some 100 million account numbers about 2 weeks ago, want to bet that they're at fault?

Heartland is a Company Acting Badly for putting millions of customers at risk.

Garmin Responds to BBB

In response to my Better Business Bureau complaint, I received this email from a Garmin specialist (click to enlarge):

In short he's:

• confirming the $150 fee
• informing me that my warranty is over
• letting me know I can repair it myself
• suggesting where I can buy a battery
• reducing the fee to $75 (about 1x-1.5x the value of c330s sold on eBay) if I go with Garmin
  
• stating that Garmin won't repair the unit but will swap it out for another

No repair? Doesn't their website list a 'repair' fee? Was I right that all Garmin is doing is pseudo-selling a used unit to me with a 90 day warranty instead of repairing my unit with new parts?

My Garmin works fine. The battery is dead. A new battery should last years. If I buy a used c330 from Garmin under their 'repair' offer, I will receive another unit that could have its battery fail in 90 days.

As $75 is still unreasonable to repair a $8 battery and I do not like being forced to buy another used unit under a 'repair' lie, I decided to see about replacing it myself per Garmin's email suggestion. I searched on the BatteryPlus site they recommended - unfortunately they don't sell batteries to fix my unit. As I'm not MacGyver and needed instructions, I sent this reply (click to enlarge):

Garmin remains a Company Acting Badly for not being willing to repair a unit, replace a battery or charge a reasonable fee.

My original post is here and the BBB complaint is here.

Garmin Battery Update

Being upset with Garmin's exhorbitant repair fees, poor battery product design, and questionable 'repair' / sales practice, I reported them online to the Better Business Bureau (BBB).

Here's what I wrote:

In short, I offered to pay a 'reasonable' repair fee and to pay for shipping.

My original post is here.

Garmin Battery Battery

About 3 years ago I purchased a Garmin StreetPilot c330 GPS. The Garmin c330 is a great little unit that looks like a mini 1980s TV but has since been eclipsed by flatscreen, widescreen and more modern Garmin Nuvi models.

The c330 comes with a rechargeable battery in the unit. This battery is required if you want to use the GPS when your car engine is not running, it helps find satellites more quickly and the battery allows you to remove the GPS from the base and still use it. My Garmin c330 battery died sometime early in January.

You would think that replacing a battery for the Garmin is straight forward. Think again.

With Garmin, you have to:

• remove a faceplate
• unscrew a front panel
• remove and put aside the antenna
• unscrew the battery bracket
• remove the battery
• cut the wires
• remove the battery from its casing
• remove a strip of metal
  
• solder a new battery
• solder the strip of metal
• install heat shrink around the battery
• heat it without causing it to explode
• insert the battery
• screw in the battery bracket
• reinstall the antenna in the exact same position as before
• screw on the front panel
• install the faceplate

There's a good tutorial and pictures of all these steps at GPSPassions.com, which you can see by clicking here. According to the poster and readers, you can do this in about 15 minutes and spend $10 or so on parts.

Not being comfortable with a soldering iron, I went to Garmin's site to see what they would charge.

It's $150 to repair my GPS. $150? It's not even worth $100. Why would anyone with second grade math spend $150 to repair a used Garmin c330 GPS you can buy on eBay for less than $100? And the folks at Garmin, who must be out to make any money they can, don't give you an option to just replace their dead rechargeable battery that you can't get at without MacGyver on your side. And the warranty on the repair? 90 days. 90 days for $150? A rechargeable battery should last years.

I thought this must be a joke so I called Garmin support and spoke to a rep about replacing my c330 battery. Not only did he confirm and stick by the $150 price, he told me that Garmin may elect to not replace my battery but to replace my GPS with another used c330 that they have in their return stock. What? No repair? So Garmin wants to effectively sell me for $150 (under the guise of repairing) a used unit that I could find on eBay for $50. Will it have a new battery that will last me another few years? They can't say.

Garmin is a Company Acting Badly for designing their products in a way that consumers can't replace a battery. Garmin is a Company Acting Badly for pseudo selling customers used goods under a 'repair' label. Garmin is a Company Acting Badly for installing a rechargeable battery that doesn't last more than a few years. Garmin is a Company Acting Badly for charging exorbitant repair fees that exceed a unit's value by two to three times.