Garmin Recertified Warranty Replacement
- Yuenny Lam
- Feb 26
- 3 min read
How would you feel if you bought a brand new Garmin watch and it broke? And how would you feel when your watch is under warranty but Garmin sends you a used watch? I'm going to tell you about my experience with Garmin sending me a recertified replacement.
I bought the Garmin forerunner 955 solar in the colour whitestone, which I have loved and used every single day. It has tracked all my workouts and various stats including sleep, steps, HRV, training readiness and all those other numbers you might be interested in.
Seven months, yes, only seven months down the line, the BACK button seemed to have collapsed and won't bounce back to it's original place. It became increasingly hard to press and doesn't make that 'click' sound like all the other buttons do.
Feeling rather disappointed, I contacted Garmin about the issue through their web chat option. I was greeted by a very slow-responding person who could not wait to get rid of me. She suggested to try soaking the watch to clear the button of any potential dirt or debris stuck in the button. I've already previously googled, tried that suggestion and it didn't do anything.
She then offered to send me a replacement and I thought "amazing, that's the outcome I was hoping for", considering the watch wasn't that old. I was e-mailed a confirmation and some instructions on how to send the watch back. I read that you ONLY send the watch back without the charging cable or any accessories, which I thought was a bit odd.
Then having a closer read of the e-mail I was, it said I'll be sent a "recertified" watch after I send my broken one back to Garmin. Wait, what!? That's not what I was told and definitely unexpected. I then frantically started googling to see what "recertified" meant whilst feeling worried, annoyed, disappointed, you name it.
I felt a slight relief when most comments I have read regarding this topic were positive and most of them said they were sent a watch that looked and felt brand new.
For the next few days I patiently waited for my replacement watch to arrive. The whole process took about a week with a weekend in between.
My replacement watch arrived. I nervously opened the box to find what looked like a brand new Garmin Forerunner 955 solar watch staring back at me. The watch had a protective sticker on the screen. I carefully and thoroughly examined the watch and I have found absolutely no marks or scratches anywhere on the watch.
The straps are brand new, the watch was as white as it could get and the screen was perfect. My 7-month Forerunner 955 Solar wasn't as white as the one I was sent, so I'm very convinced this is a brand new watch.
Overall, my experience with Garmin and them sending me a recertified watch while still under warranty has been incredible. Despite the unfriendly person on the web chat, the actual customer service was great and I am very happy with the outcome.
I would not hesitate to get more Garmin products in the future and certainly won't feel worried if I ever need to get another replacement.
READ: Garmin Forerunner 255 On A Small Wrist
