Today's Consumer Bonanza

[susandennis]

My Garmin GPS started getting flaky about a month ago. I finally figured out how to unfreeze it but then the unfreeze only worked part of the time. Today, it just died.

As it happens, I was very near a very big Radio Shack and they had a nice TomTom on sale and I bought it.

I got home and fiddled with the Garmin some more and got a pulse but then it died again. I had gotten it at Costco.com last January. Their website sounded like they would be worth talking to about at least a partial refund and I could do it at any warehouse store. So I put the thing in a baggy with the suction thing and the cable and went to Costco.

I told the woman that I knew it was a long shot and I did not have the box or the documents or even some of the bits like the usb cord (lordknows where that is)or the stick to the dash disc. She looked at my little baggie and said, but you have this and this and this and this plus a receipt and ID... you want cash or store credit?

She gave me every single penny back!!! I was shocked and delighted. And I ran into a woman I worked with at start up #1 10 years ago.

Amazing.

My trip today was to finally get the damn PIN changed. I've always loved my credit union. I've been there more than a decade but their branch is really seedy and the woman who was there handling people today was a mixture of rude and dismissive. I signed up with Key Bank as kind of a local backup. They may be a promotion.

Comments

[geordie.livejournal.com]

I'll be interested to hear how you get on with the Tom Tom, my brother and one of my friends have those, but they always have had. My mother has Garmin. So no comparison other than my own. When I tried Tom Tom their POI system sucked, but that was long ago. I like the way Tom Tom will show Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts locations on the map, which Garmins don't do well.

So... I'll be interested to hear.

[susandennis]

Physically, their window sucker is more appealing and while the Garmin required constant fiddling with the cigarette lighter plug, the TomTom needs none.

The PC to Garmin update/changes, etc. is WAY slicker and better and nicer and faster.

I love all of the info you get on the screen, speed/speed limit particularly.

I'll pay attention and report more once I get some mileage on the thing. I had the Nuvi 750 and got it on special for $199 last January. I got the TomTom 330S and paid $169 for it today. They seem to have the same functions, be the same size, etc.

[geordie.livejournal.com]

Sounds good, I look forward to the updates.