Quote Originally Posted by smokefree View Post
Garmin's Customer Service Department unfortunately is not known for its service.
I agree with that, although it does vary depending on where you are in the world. AU will answer emails ok but are not very good with phone support. You can literally wait on hold from hours. UK on the other hand are reportedly great with phone service, quick to answer, very helpful and relatively knowledgeable generally. BUT [yes, it's a big butt ... sorry, but], they are hopeless with email requests. I've heard they don't even look at them. That's OK i suppose as long as the other rumour is not true, which is this: They toss a kitten out of the window from the support dept on the top floor every time they get an email. I have heard that if they're in a good mood they will at least strangle it first though.

Seriously, Steve. That's not a pleasant experience you had when the 2599 chucked it in after 2 hours, but it does happen from time to time even with brand new devices. I've seen two new units with the same sort of aberrant behaviour, a 2595 and a 3590. Both were fixed by holding the lower RH corner of the screen then holding down the power button until they woke up. Better still to connect to a power source while you do that, just in case the battery's low too. By forcing the unit on like that it allows an immediate hard reset. Both units then worked fine for long enough to connect to WebUpdater and get updated software and files. No more problems. As with many consumer electronics, with a Garmin device the first aid/immediate action for any strange behaviour is a simple reset and update.

I hope you don't hold it against Garmin UK for that one bad experience because i believe their excellent phone service somewhat makes up for their negligent email response [or non-response].