Kudos to Garmin (GDL-50)

[Tim-37419]

Since I bitched about Garmin not giving me my free pilot pack on the GTN, I wanted to share some good news that I felt was great customer service.

 

I have an old GDL 50 I keep on the glare shield that for whatever reason I'm very attached to. I keep it wired into a USB charger connected to ship power. The USB port on the GDL has always been a little flimsy. 2 days ago I was unplugging the cord to take it off the glare shield and all of the USB innards came out with the cable. I sent Garmin an email asking how much it would cost to repair or replace and they asked me my serial number. I thought that was kind of strange because I said in my email that it was old and I expected to pay. My serial number is in the hundreds so I imagine it's a very old unit. They wrote me back to say this is a known issue and they will replace it for free.

 

That was a nice Christmas gift

[dkkim73]

That's the Garmin I remember. Great obstacle updates for the 196 for years and years... I'll see what it's like in the new era. Still on the fence about an Aera, no pun intended, but that would be a good trial. 

[Tim-37419]

I had a 760 wired to the autopilot in my experimental and loved it. Naturally it wouldn't fly approaches but it did everything else. 

[LANCECASPER]

5 hours ago, Tim-37419 said:

Since I bitched about Garmin not giving me my free pilot pack on the GTN, I wanted to share some good news that I felt was great customer service.

 

I have an old GDL 50 I keep on the glare shield that for whatever reason I'm very attached to. I keep it wired into a USB charger connected to ship power. The USB port on the GDL has always been a little flimsy. 2 days ago I was unplugging the cord to take it off the glare shield and all of the USB innards came out with the cable. I sent Garmin an email asking how much it would cost to repair or replace and they asked me my serial number. I thought that was kind of strange because I said in my email that it was old and I expected to pay. My serial number is in the hundreds so I imagine it's a very old unit. They wrote me back to say this is a known issue and they will replace it for free.

What a huge difference that is to Appareo who makes the Stratus. They had virtually the same issue on the Stratus 2.

I stood near their booth at Oshkosh about 6 years ago and several people came up mentioning the same issue that they had been having with the plug. Every time they put on an act claiming that that was news to them. They offered zero help whatsoever and apparently taught their people to lie to their customers. For that reason alone I vowed never to buy another Appareo product. 

Good job Garmin for owning the defect and making it right.

[ZuluZulu]

Garmin Support has been absolutely stellar in every interaction I've had with them.  One of the best in aviation in my opinion.