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SLOTH
Hockeyjesus
Joined: 28 Oct 2007
Posts: 144
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 Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2008 1:45 pm Post subject: The New Consumer Awareness Thread(aka PANASONIC BULLSHIT) |
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Yo....Panasonic buyers beware.
I have been very happy with my LCD up until now. Sweet picture, XBOX is beeee-autiful on it. HD Rocks....until last Friday.
I own a Panasonic PT-61LCX65. I got a sweet deal through a buddy of mine who works for a Panasonic subsidiary. It's a $3000 TV and I got the TV for $2100 (including shipping & everything) in January of 2006. Nothing shady...he just gave me the employee discount.
I moved the thing cross country to Texas in July of 2006 (via professional mover) and no damage happened during transit.
Last Friday I turn on the TV and lo-and-behold there is a 3 inch diameter red dot just to the left of center of the screen. Doing research...this seems to be a bad thing. Others who have experienced this phenonmenon online with this issue state this is a serious problem. Just Google (Panasonic, Red Spot) to find out more.
Anyhow...the manufacturers warranty expires after one year of ownership and I was not able to puchase an extended warranty.
After many phone calls to Panasonic, they have agreed to "look into" helping me but I had to provide them with a proof of purchase and a repair estimate.
Had a repair guy come over to estimate the damage... I apparently have a bad Light Engine...to the tune of a repair cost of $1603.
What's wrong with this picture?
I'm still waiting on a response from Panasonic. I will let you guys know what I find out.
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13utchy
Now with 30% more rage!
Joined: 29 Oct 2007
Posts: 763
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| Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2008 10:21 pm Post subject: |
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WHAT!!!!???
I love my Panasonics!
@#*$%@
Definitley let us know the outcome ... hopefully it's favorable for you!
It's time we resurrect the consumer awareness thread folks!
I have some updates myself, just been so freakin' busy!
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the New Cunning Linguist
Like a good neighbor, only better
Joined: 18 Oct 2007
Posts: 1962
Location: I'm here, aren't I?
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| Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2008 9:16 am Post subject: |
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Yeah, I've now learned that those extended warranty thingies really do matter, moreso now because few outfits are available to repair these things... I now make it a personal policy to think twice before buying JVC, Panasonic, and other no name brands sold at low-end retailers. The exception I'll make is when buying DVD players for my old TVs - I paid <$30 each for two DVD players from Walmart and they work just fine.
BTW, great to see you on XBox Live last night, SLOTH. Took me a second or two to figure WTF Jelumpki was...  And as for your question, R6V2 is terrific; I highly recommend it. Haven't played MP on COD4 yet - I haven't played that since I finished the single player mode... R6V2 is my crack habit du jour.
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Bosc Ulrich II
OTP Resident Historian
Joined: 18 Oct 2007
Posts: 3477
Location: Sweetest lid in the league
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| Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2008 9:44 am Post subject: |
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tCL why the hell is your msn continuously logging in and out?
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the New Cunning Linguist
Like a good neighbor, only better
Joined: 18 Oct 2007
Posts: 1962
Location: I'm here, aren't I?
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| Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2008 9:51 am Post subject: |
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| Bosc Ulrich II wrote: |
| tCL why the hell is your msn continuously logging in and out? |
Who knows... I think my wife inadvertently enabled the msn to auto log on as me on her laptop... Ignore it. I'm at work.
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Bosc Ulrich II
OTP Resident Historian
Joined: 18 Oct 2007
Posts: 3477
Location: Sweetest lid in the league
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| Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2008 11:13 am Post subject: |
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| the New Cunning Linguist wrote: |
| Bosc Ulrich II wrote: |
| tCL why the hell is your msn continuously logging in and out? |
Who knows... I think my wife inadvertently enabled the msn to auto log on as me on her laptop... Ignore it. I'm at work. |
Hmm, should I start hitting on your wife? 
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SLOTH
Hockeyjesus
Joined: 28 Oct 2007
Posts: 144
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| Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2008 11:15 am Post subject: |
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| the New Cunning Linguist wrote: |
Yeah, I've now learned that those extended warranty thingies really do matter, moreso now because few outfits are available to repair these things... I now make it a personal policy to think twice before buying JVC, Panasonic, and other no name brands sold at low-end retailers. The exception I'll make is when buying DVD players for my old TVs - I paid <$30 each for two DVD players from Walmart and they work just fine.
BTW, great to see you on XBox Live last night, SLOTH. Took me a second or two to figure WTF Jelumpki was... And as for your question, R6V2 is terrific; I highly recommend it. Haven't played MP on COD4 yet - I haven't played that since I finished the single player mode... R6V2 is my crack habit du jour. |
Hey!! Yeah..that was me. Great to see you too!
Panasonic's response thus far is "Management is looking into it". I should hear something by Monday....but I'm not holding my breath.
If Panasonic doesn't fix it, I'm just going to deal with the red spot until it completely distorts the picture. I can't justify the cost of a new TV to fix an old TV.
I have my eye on this one as a backup plan, though...
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8404489&type=product&id=1180743545937
Oh...and P.S.
The technician for Panasonic said to ALWAYS buy the extended warranty with the newer (and bigger) TV's because of issues like this.
Thanks for telling me this now...ASSHOLE!
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Chuck
Joined: 19 Oct 2007
Posts: 169
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| Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2008 11:22 am Post subject: |
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This is why my new HDTV is a CRT. Sure she is big and heavy but she works.
CRTs still kick the shit out of LCD and plasma.
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the New Cunning Linguist
Like a good neighbor, only better
Joined: 18 Oct 2007
Posts: 1962
Location: I'm here, aren't I?
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| Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2008 12:39 pm Post subject: |
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 That's a very good price it seems, for a 73". I'm due to replace the old 36" CRT and I'm looking at the 42" to 46" LCDs... Make sure you check out refurbdepot.com; you could save as much as 70% off retail - I just bot a refrubed Onkyo AV receiver and it works beautifully - it even came with a three year warranty... 
Oh, and this should really go into the OTP Man's Room Thread...
EDIT: Aahhh upon further review, I see that it's a rear projection DLP.... Do your homework, SLOTH, and find out how long that lamp lasts, it may need replacement at some point; I have a front projection HD DLP setup as a home theater and I need to replace that lamp after about 3,000 hours (about a year; mine lasted almost 18 months) at a cost of $300 per lamp . It's great for movies, and awesome for videogames.
Also, I would check what the viewable angle is and how much ambient light your Man's TV room has - those rear projection TVs look fine in a darkened area of Best Buy, but may not look so hot in a living room with lots of windows...
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SLOTH
Hockeyjesus
Joined: 28 Oct 2007
Posts: 144
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| Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2008 9:41 am Post subject: |
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| the New Cunning Linguist wrote: |
Yeah, I've now learned that those extended warranty thingies really do matter, moreso now because few outfits are available to repair these things... I now make it a personal policy to think twice before buying JVC, Panasonic, and other no name brands sold at low-end retailers. The exception I'll make is when buying DVD players for my old TVs - I paid <$30 each for two DVD players from Walmart and they work just fine.
BTW, great to see you on XBox Live last night, SLOTH. Took me a second or two to figure WTF Jelumpki was... And as for your question, R6V2 is terrific; I highly recommend it. Haven't played MP on COD4 yet - I haven't played that since I finished the single player mode... R6V2 is my crack habit du jour. |
MP on COD4 is total crack as well. You should give it a try.
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SLOTH
Hockeyjesus
Joined: 28 Oct 2007
Posts: 144
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| Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2008 3:13 pm Post subject: |
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Quick update...
Let me use a uniquely OTP phrase to summarize my experience with Panasonic customer service from the begninng to where I am now...
"PANASONIC BLOWS DEAD BEARS".
Every bit of update on my current issue has been from me calling them to inquire WTF they are doing to help me get this fixed. After one full week of "this is under management review", I am now at the "it is in the hands of the field repair representative". Which means, they don't trust the "authorized" Panasonic repair guy who came over and diagnosed the probmlem to begin with. Apparently this guy is "Mr. 2nd Opinion".
I asked how long ago this decision was made and they had no idea. Apparently this guy was supposed to call me and set an appointment to come out and look at my TV and I have yet to hear from him. I asked when they were planning on letting me know any of this and the CSR had no idea.
Ineptitude. Pure ineptitude.
I will update as I get them (on my own, of course).
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the New Cunning Linguist
Like a good neighbor, only better
Joined: 18 Oct 2007
Posts: 1962
Location: I'm here, aren't I?
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| Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2008 5:16 pm Post subject: |
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We used to have panasonic phones. They sucked.
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SLOTH
Hockeyjesus
Joined: 28 Oct 2007
Posts: 144
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| Posted: Wed Apr 09, 2008 12:30 pm Post subject: |
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Ok...20 calls to management later I seem to have the "unofficial" official word on the outcome.
Sounds like Panasonic is going to foot the bill for repair. They said the reason it was taking so long was because the Field Service Rep had to order the part and then he would call me when the part arrived to set up a repair time. I asked "so...you are ordering a new light engine?" She said "No...it's a part that goes on the light engine".
Hmmm....why are they ordering a part that isn't what the original repair guy said was broken?
1. Either the original repair guy was shady and wanted to charge me an ass-load for un-necessary repair, OR...
2. Panasonic is aware of an ongoing issue with this "part", they haven't sent out a recall yet and they are appeasing customers that call in on an individual basis to save themselves some negative press.
Either way...they say it will be fixed on their nickel...I will believe it when my TV is fixed.
I will post more as I hear thnigs.
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harmfuljays
King of Men
Joined: 18 Oct 2007
Posts: 1507
Location: Djibouti
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| Posted: Wed Apr 09, 2008 3:54 pm Post subject: |
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disturbing but expected this is.....thanks for the update.
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SLOTH
Hockeyjesus
Joined: 28 Oct 2007
Posts: 144
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| Posted: Thu May 01, 2008 9:53 am Post subject: |
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Final update...
Panasonic ate the cost of the repair, but I still had to pay the trip fee for the technician to come out and fix it. I'll take the $65 trip fee over $1300 LCD Panel replacement anytime....however it wasn't LCD replacement that fixed it.
Apparently all it needed was an EPROM update. It literally took 10 minutes to repiar. The repair guy plugged in a small silver box into the back of the TV and I watched the red spot slowly disappear.
I think that Panasonic knows this kind of thing is going on and is only fixing the issue on an as-needed basis. The really shitty thing is, Panasonic charged the repair guy for the EPROM update hardware but didn't charge me for the repair. Sucks to be the repair guy!
TV is back up and running beautifully.
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the New Cunning Linguist
Like a good neighbor, only better
Joined: 18 Oct 2007
Posts: 1962
Location: I'm here, aren't I?
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| Posted: Thu May 01, 2008 10:05 am Post subject: |
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Aaah.... Great to hear... I wonder if more and more of these high-end electronics will have a need for "updates" and therefore need some way of being accessible from the manufacturer to receive them.
It sounds like the update should have been put in before the product was delivered to you - is that correct? That would explain why the JVC didn't eat the cost but charged the repair dude...
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Bosc Ulrich II
OTP Resident Historian
Joined: 18 Oct 2007
Posts: 3477
Location: Sweetest lid in the league
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| Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2008 11:10 am Post subject: |
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Has anyone ever purchased batteries on ebay?
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Bosc Ulrich II
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Joined: 18 Oct 2007
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Location: Sweetest lid in the league
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| Posted: Mon Jun 09, 2008 12:22 pm Post subject: |
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My girlfriend's Mom's hotmail account got hijacked on Friday and with fast help over the weekend from Microsoft Customer Support, she got it back today. Good stuff.
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harmfuljays
King of Men
Joined: 18 Oct 2007
Posts: 1507
Location: Djibouti
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| Posted: Wed Jun 11, 2008 8:25 am Post subject: |
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Question about this update. I've been looking at TVs with USB ports that you can update firmware manually with using an external. Does your TV have USB support?
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Bosc Ulrich II
OTP Resident Historian
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Location: Sweetest lid in the league
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| Posted: Wed Jun 11, 2008 9:18 am Post subject: |
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| harmfuljays wrote: |
| Question about this update. I've been looking at TVs with USB ports that you can update firmware manually with using an external. Does your TV have USB support? |
I'm not sure if you're addressing Sloth or everyone. I bought mine in December and it doesn't... they don't have the D models for Sony anymore. I think they've incorporated the 120hz into their 1080p models now, and those don't have it either.
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