- Garmin recently announced a new premium subscription
- Anger customers have not wasted any time expressing their dissatisfaction
- Thousands have taken to Reddit in support of boycotting the service
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Just hours after Garmin announced a brand new Premium subscription service, angry customers in thousands have taken to Reddit to express their dissatisfaction with the move.
As we reported earlier this week, Garmin Connect+ is a new subscription level for Garmin users. Price for $ 6.99 / £ 6.99 / AU $ 12 or $ 69.99 / £ 69.99 / AU $ 120 annually, it gives users AI insight into their training, a performance dashboard, a live activity feature, expanded life rack and more.
Garmin emphasized to us that the “Garmin Connect app is a free, personal experience, and it doesn’t disappear,” obviously eager to get ahead of the user’s setback. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to have worked.
A post on the Garmin Sureddit with over 6,000 upvotes and an abundance of angry comments have taken over the forum as customers respond to the news.
“To anyone who is interested in the future of Garmin Customer Service: Don’t sign up,” wrote the original poster. “We have to take a fixed stand to stop this completely harmful trend with subscriptions everywhere. We are already paying hundreds for watches that last only a few years because batteries cannot be replaced.”
The furious post encourages users to “unite to fight for our customers’ right to software as a service for a thousand dollars watch” and to stand up against the change that will “reduce the usefulness and ownership of our products in the future.”
Garmin users are unanimous in subscription’s rage
Do not sign up for Garmin Connect+. Unite to fight for our customers’ right to software as a service for a thousand dollars clock. This is a smooth slope and will reduce the usability and ownership of our products in the future. The surplus will rise and more and more are getting behind Paywalls! From r/garmin
“Never pay for the subscription,” said a commentator, “but it will make me consider my future watches,” they continued. “I could justify the Garmin expenses when I knew I got all the features clockwise, but we all know what happens to a favor when a paid level was introduced.”
“It looks like Coros is back on the menu, boys,” said an unhappy user. “Of course I don’t pay for the s ***,” another Calmy added.
Other users have encouraged to submit feedback to Garmin through its ideas page. Unanimous is a strong word, but I see another single positive comment or reaction to the move.
It is not only the reaction to a general subscription that users seem to be upset about, but the value of the specific features offered. “I signed up for the free trial and I can’t see any value in it. I was hoping I could get rid of Stava Premium, but Nope,” said one.
Garmin must have expected that some user -backed and announced a subscription to a previous free software platform is always risky business, but I’m not sure it could have caught such a heartfelt scream.
The problem is in a sense context. Garmin users have endured a mass outage this year that saw units useless for 24 hours or more. Recently, Garmin users have raised concern that expensive and powerful devices are left by a fragmented approach to roll out software and new features.
We have reached the company to comment on Furore about the message and will update this story accordingly. Also hold tuned to Techradar for an open forum where users can share their thoughts. A total hike seems unlikely, but Garmin can be pressed to do something into the current situation.
