Get it free off the internet - you tried to buy it and they said no - their problem!

 

Too bad you're havng problems with Garmin, however despite your problem I wouldn't categorize them as anti-military.

 

Might be out of their control. My credit card processor makes the rules and one of the rules is no APO addresses. Supposedly they can't be verified to the satisfaction of the processor. That leaves them open to you disputing the charge, getting a full refund and keeping the goods.

 

Thats a big, big no no.... NEVER take anything from the high side(SIPR or classified Secret) and put it in an unclass computer or personal device. You will violate so many UCMJ articles and laws you could spend the better part of your life in Leavenworth.

 

Dude chill out. Its a billing thing. I wouldn't trust an APO address (which is nothing more than a PO box) for confirmation either.

And I wouldn't use a Garmin or any other civilian GPS system here or Iraq when I can get a free one that's updated, secured, and required for military operations from my unit. The one thing I don't want to hear one of my Soldiers say is:

"Its good, I used my Garmin to plug the grid"

 

That's the problem. I DID give them my debit card's registered address. It is an APO address and Garmin will NOT accept it.

 

Thought I would just provide an update. I've given up with Garmin and will be looking elsewhere.

The PX is not an option. I checked both Ramstein and Vogelweh (the two PXs in the Kaiserslautern area) and neither carries maps or accessories for Garmin GPSs. However, they do carry a few Nuvis....just no accessories.

I finally spoke with a Garmin representative last night after 30 minutes on hold. The "official" Garmin answer is it is directly related to Garmin and has nothing to do with my debit card (I make regular Internet purchases with it and only very few others won't ship to APO - usually due to postal restrictions because there are something that the post office will not accept through the mail). Garmin just does not accept APO addresses/orders. Not even over the phone. Their recommendation was to get a credit card number from someone in the states and pay them back. So, if there is anyone out there so inclined...just post your credit card number, full name as it appears on the card, expiration date, security code on the back of the card, and the billing address for the card and I'll get a check in the mail to you for everything I buy. Just kidding, I don't want anyone to post this information. I was just using this as an example to demonstrate how foolish this suggestion from Garmin was.

For what it is worth, I check with our programmer/web designer in the office and asked him how difficult it would be for Garmin to fix the problem. He indicated probably less than one hour of coding time. All they need to do is add a couple of "states" (i.e. AE, AP, etc) to their drop-down box, and download the APO zip codes from the USPS and include them in their zip code database. He said depending on policy for tesing and approval of new/updated web content, Garmin could have this fixed within 2 hours to 3 days if they cared about fixing it. But, I guess it doesn't matter.

Thanks for letting me vent.

 

So you think it's reasonable to ask Garmin or any other company to invest in reprograming their computer to sell you a peice of map software?

If you think they are the only merchant that doesn't ship to or sell to APOs, you just plain wrong. I tried to direct ship a dozen, 2 million candle power lights to my buddy in Iraq from the Home Depot website and they couldn't handle the order because they only ship UPS and the APO system will not accept UPS shipments. Rather than getting my feathers all bunched up, I purchased the items and shipped USPS.

Unlees you're an orphaned, only child with no living realatives or friends, you should be able to come up with a logical solution.

 

Good point, stick to the NIPR portal. We download map data and put it into our issued Garmin eTrex's all time here in Afghanistan. It's easy once you figure out the software. I have found Garmins to be much better than the DAGRs. I have four DAGRs sitting in my storage room that we have not used in months. My eTrex goes with me on every patrol.

 

Sounds like you want victim status. I'd say they are worried about getting paid. Not your job, race, sexual preference or anything else. They want to get their money and know who they are dealing with. The thing about the wacky rules of APO etc also might be a factor.