Goodbye Quest 2

Aladdin_Sane · Regular Visitor Joined: Jan 01, 2006 Posts: 79

And good bloody riddance! What a bucket of

that was and can't tell you how happy I am to see the back of it.

Now, where to buy a new Quest 1. Any ideas?

yamkwak · Occasional Visitor Joined: Oct 16, 2005 Posts: 25

HI aladin, how did u get rid of your Q2?? I bought mine off GLOBAL POSITIONING SYSTEMS UK and have constantly complained about the slow redraw and constant 'freezing' of the unit, the last straw was the motorcycle mount breaking ( 2 mounts both broke at the contacts!!) and the unit constantly freezing and losing sat signal??? Through numerous emails GPS UK just keep saying contact Garmin UK who will deal with the warranty even though I have pointed out to them that under the Sale Of Goods Act it is down to them and that I am rejecting the unit as not fit for its purpose ie motorbike use. They just keep saying contact Garmin and refuse to give me a refund. I bought the unit in march and started my complaints at the end of July. Sale of Goods Act states that in the first 6 months the onus is on the retailer to prove the unit was NOT faulty at sale. VERY POOR after sales service from them I would advise that NO ONE BUYS FROM THEM, they advertise extensivley on this site. After threatening legal action they have finally said they will take the unit in and send it to Garmin for repair. Still not good enough I just want my money back as the unit is plainly not fit for its purpose!!! Confused

bigbob · Posted: Sun Aug 27, 2006 9:22 pm Post subject:

Hi yamkwak
I am going through the same process as you with GPSW my Q2 was replaced by Garmin mid June and still does not work to my satisfaction I even suggested to GPSW that I would be prepaired to exchange the Q2 with a Q1 as I just wanted something that works all they would do is offer half price for the Q2 while I see elseware on this forum that Garmin in Europe are replacing these units FOC as they have obviously realized there is a problem and have taken the moral ground and replaced them (a good idea if they want a future customer base). Garmin UK are replacing some units and have offered 2610 to folk (see a member of UKGSERS had this offer) while other folk me included have just been palmed of with the excuse that the slow recalk redraw is just a characteristic of the Q2 and hope that we will go away and not bother them anymore. I have been advised by consumer protection to take up my complaint with GPSW and am at this moment awaiting a letter back from them. So far like you I have been totaly underwhelmed by the treatment received by Garmin uk and GPSW and think its a total disgrace that they both think its ok to take over £500 off of customers for something that patently does not do what it was sold for and think we should just go away and accept this.

cheers Bob

yamkwak · Occasional Visitor Joined: Oct 16, 2005 Posts: 25

Hi bob thanks for reply, maybe we can formulate a response together?? To issue a County Court claim is only £50 and I think if we can get enough witnesses via this site we would easily win the claim against GPSW UK and GARMIN. I know for a fact it costs the defendants a minimum of £500 PER DAY just to walk in to court to defend any action issued. Obviously the Q2 is faulty, why manufacture the ZUMO specifically for bike use when that is what the Quest is also designed for???? Personally I think that GPSW and Garmin would crumble under any court action, obviously the law is stacked against them, let me know what you think, cheers. :P :P

Aladdin_Sane · Regular Visitor Joined: Jan 01, 2006 Posts: 79

Hi Yamkwak.

I sold my Q2 on e-bay and have already purchased another Q1.

There is without doubt an issue with the Q2 that needs to be addressed by Garmin. The only hurdle seems to be the processor. I have no idea how fast the processor is, but needless to say it is not fast enough. If they sort it, they may reduce and negative feedback from customers such as us.

Regarding the motorbike mount - I didn't buy a Garmin mount - I went for the 'Ram' powered mount instead and i'm very impressed to be honest.

Good luck with any action you decide to take.

bumpkin · Posted: Mon Aug 28, 2006 11:12 am Post subject:

yamkwak · Occasional Visitor Joined: Oct 16, 2005 Posts: 25

Yes bumpkin be very carefull with the metal gold coloured contacts that are on the mount ( the ones that contact on to the garmin unit). They are VERY fragile, do not touch them or try and bend them if you think they are not making contact with the Quests contacts, they WILL break. I had contacts break on 2 seperate mounts at the same place and I was just using the mount as it was designed for, didnt mess about with it etc, and they still broke, NOT at all impressed. 8O 8O

bigbob · Posted: Mon Aug 28, 2006 8:17 pm Post subject:

Hi yamkwak
Am interested in your proposal re county court action I am sure if enough folk got together that are genuinly effected by the Q2 issue then something would have to be done in our favour I am still waiting for a reply from GPSW.

yamkwak · Occasional Visitor Joined: Oct 16, 2005 Posts: 25

Nice one bob, let us know how you get on with GPSW I am going to call them tomorrow and tell them (again) that I dont want the unit sent off to Garmin I want a refund. One interesting point you may or may not be aware of is that under the Sale of Goods Act 1979 it is actually a CRIMINAL OFFENCE for the retailer to refuse to take the product back. It was only when I pointed this out to GPSW that they agreed to take the unit back but only to send it off to Garmin. If you have a good read of the Sale of Goods Act you can see that the law is heavily in favour of the purchaser. Something GPSW is obviously not aware of, they also try to mention that trading standards say 2 weeks is a reasonable time to return goods. Basically that is B**LL S**T. There is no stated length of time, apart from the first 6 months the onus is on the retailer to prove the goods were not faulty when sold after 6 months the onus switches to the buyer. Good luck and I will keep you posted on any response, cheers.

Aladdin_Sane · Regular Visitor Joined: Jan 01, 2006 Posts: 79

Good luck Yamkwak.

Tell me mate, what was the make of the motorbike mount you used?

yamkwak · Occasional Visitor Joined: Oct 16, 2005 Posts: 25

Hi aladin I used a TECHMOUNT bracket which mounted onto the fairing of my ZX12R ( this is fine and a good bit of kit) to which I bolted the GARMIN powered mount , which was a piece of junk, should have gone with a standard non powered RAM mount. Anyway got my money back on the 2 GARMIN power mounts.

A partial success today, phoned GARMIN UK and complained, at first they wanted to 'repair' the unit blah blah blah. I told them it wasnt good enough and when I mentioned that it was common knowledge on web forums that Quest 2 were obviously faulty he went very quiet then took my number and said he would phone me back.
Then called GPSW (YOO NOO LTD) on their 'premium' rate return line and spoke to the very person who had constantly tried to fobb me of via email about returning the unit. She then offered me a partial refund of 86% of the cost of the Q2 which is £387.40. However I refused this as I said I wanted all my money back, £449.95. So she then gave me her managers email address, I have fired of an email to the manager so I should hear back soon.
As soon as I hear back I will update you. Seems the best way to make progress with this firm is to phone up as emails dont get passed up the chain to managers!!! Rolling Eyes

feef · Occasional Visitor Joined: May 09, 2006 Posts: 13

I'm using a Quest2 with a Touratech cradle and RAM mount on my Firestorm and FJR1300. Mount-wise, I've had no problems with them on either bike (and the 'storm isn't known for it's smoothness, being a lumpy vibey twin)

I upgraded my Q2 with the latest firmware when I got it, and while it does take a second to redraw, I don't find it particularly bad, and I've not had it freeze at all. It's certainly quicker than my iPAQ based Alturion system I used to use.

Is this a problem across all Q2s, or does it seem to affect some more than others?

a

Skippy · Posted: Tue Aug 29, 2006 2:41 pm Post subject:

yamkwak · Occasional Visitor Joined: Oct 16, 2005 Posts: 25

You are right , skippy just a return email of the Customer Manager stating exactly what you said, eg use of the system for 5 months etc and they have now offered a partial refund of £400.00. Which I am going to take however what annoyed me more than anything is the 'running' around and all the to and fro emailing and phone calls to get any sort of a decent offer. When you make a complaint about a product having spent the best part of nearly £500 ( I bought the Q2 and Garmin powered cradle) you expect a reasonable response not, and I quote; "GARMIN ARE NOW DEALING WITH WARRANTY PLEASE CONTACT THEM". Now that sort of response from a retailer is NOT acceptable especially if there is an obvious 'common' fault with the Q2. Then if you need to call the RETURN LINE it is a premium rate number at 50p a minute!!!! Plus when you contact GARMIN and explain what has gone on they can only advise you to contact the retailer ( this point is actually reasonable as I want a refund and as they stated my 'contract' was with the retailer, quite right).
I may have had the system for 5 months but let me assure you I have hardly used it, losing sat lock and constantly freezing up on you hardly inspires confidence in the system. Then when the official Garmin accesory ie the Power cradle breaks through normal use, so you replace and it goes AGAIN with the same fault you have got to ask yourself 'WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?'

I am going to settle , as you say the court may well take into account the offer now made, however if they hadn't made an offer of refund I would have had no other recourse but court action. All I can say is we spend a lot of money to these firms to give us a product which is supposed to work and then when it doesn't they try their best to 'fob' you off!! I NEVER had any problems with the Quest 1 but needed to upgrade to get full european coverage for bike touring. As it turned out my Q2 failed and my mate who had a Quest 1 , his worked fine, we relied on his and when it didnt have loaded maps to cover some areas we had to revert to paper maps!!! Now some people may say 'hey £49 for the use of a Quest 2 for 5 months, not bad' well I challenge them to be happy when they are stuck in the middle of the Italian Alps when your sat nav has gone Tits up and it is going dark, not nice and not what I pay my hard earned for. I know I have gone on but I have done this in the hope no-one else suffers the way I did.........!!!!!

bumpkin · Posted: Tue Aug 29, 2006 8:08 pm Post subject:

Does your mate with the Q1 have a Garmin cradle? If so has he suffered the same problems as you?

Interested to hear as I've just fitted one. Looks solid enough to me unless the sprung contact tangs break off after repeated insertion/removal of the Quest? Sounds like that's the problem you've been having....
_________________
Chas
Garmin i3, Quest & StreetPilot 2720 with GTM10

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