We have many opportunities to experience both good and bad customer service. Rarely, though, do we bump into extremes at both ends of the spectrum in the course of one technical support issue. Doing so makes both experiences all the more poignant.
I use a Garmin GPSmap 396 coupled with a hockey puck sized XM Radio receiver in my airplane. The combination gives me NEXRAD weather radar in near real-time, with my current position and course superimposed. It has proven invaluable in keeping me safe and well clear of thunderstorms. Recently, the weather got “flakey,” sometimes I would receive it and sometimes not. On an August flight back from Wisconsin, when I was flying along the front edge of a line of rain and thunderstorms, the NEXRAD radar vanished and I could not get it back. After experimenting on several follow-up flights, I determined that the problem was heat related: when the XM receiver had been on for 30-40 minutes and got hot, it stopped working.
I called Garmin and asked whether they wanted the XM receiver back with or without the GPS unit and how much it would cost to repair/replace it. The Garmin rep, for whom American English was clearly his primary language, asked what model antenna I had and I told him that it was the old, original GXM 30 and that it was almost four years old. He immediately offered to replace it with a new GXM 40 for free under warranty. (I looked it up later; the GXM 40 retails for $268.) I shipped my broken receiver to Garmin on Wednesday and had the replacement on my doorstep on Friday. That’s amazingly awesome service, Garmin. Thank you!
I just phoned XM Radio to have the old receiver removed from my account and replaced with the new receiver. I got a woman who spoke English with such a thick accent that I had trouble understanding her. She then informed me that this “service” would cost me $15. Excuse me? Garmin just replaced a very expensive piece of broken equipment at their expense and XM wants to charge me $15 to type an eight letter radio ID into their computer?!?! Talk about petty. Worse, she then tried to “up-sell” me to a lifetime music subscription for “only” $399.99. I was flabergasted but did manage to recover my voice and tell her how angry I am that, after paying them $75 per month for weather, XM has the gall to charge me an additional $6 for music. Truly apalling.
Garmin: I have had several of your products over the years. All have performed wonderfully. This is the first time that I have had to work with your customer service and I am thoroughly impressed. You’ve got a very, very happy customer who will certainly return to purchase more of your products.
XM Radio: The aviation weather “service” that I receive from you is overpriced and the additonal charge for music is insulting. I have had to make several calls to your customer service over the last four years and every one has been, without exception, infuriating. Were there any alternative source of cockpit weather data, I would drop you in an instant.
I have nothing but bad experiences with XM radio’s customer service. I called to order my husband XM as a birthday gift- and told the rep on the phone that I needed a radio for the car. What I was sent was a radio + car kit that didn’t work. After 4 hours of calls to XM customer service where an XM signal was sent and resent over and over again, I was told that I needed a “sure connect” antena attachment, and that I’m not receiving a signal because I am not in a good reception area. I live in New York City! How much more reception does one need?? I had to wait a week for the “sure connect” and then the radio worked like a charm. My question is an obvious one- why doesn’t this come with the car kit in the first place?? On a separate occasion, I called in reference to a rebate- only to be told I need to hang up and dial another number. When I call the alternate number- there is a recording that this number is invalid and has been changed to a thrid number. This happened to me TWICE! When I told one of the reps who helped me that they need to stop giving out this erroneous number- the technician told me he would make a note on my account. This does NOT SOLVE THE PROBLEM! Noting my account with an erroneous number does not help anyone.