Nightmare at Panasonic

[psx2sg]

Hi all

I don' know if anyone had my experience, but just like to share the mare I've been throught.

I sent my FZ30 for repair(used only for 1/2 yr, under warranty), I ask the staff about the lead time for repair, I was told i can collect my camera for about 2 weeks.

But during the end of the 2nd week, i gave a few call to them checking about the repair status, from what the service centre claims,
1. the camera was under repair
2. the techinical side is waiting for parts thats why it is taking so long
3. since it's under warranty there should not have any cost incurred.

But on the 3rd week panasonic called me telling me that they need to replace my pcb board as 'it was corroded'. I ask them the reason, they cannot answer, just tell me 'oh you must place them in a place with dehumidifier'. I question them why am I told that there is no cost and now i need to pay, and why do they take so long to inform me on that?(which from my view, since the part was not covered under warranty then they should have inform, i mean how difficult do you need to open up a camera to discover corrosion?)

well, at the day of collection, they make me wait for more than an hour for collection and it was when i realise that the people who sent their equipment for repair who came after me, being attended and left. And right after me, and one more guy who waited for a long time also kick a big fuss then they started to entertain us(and one of the staff actually told his colleague "you just attend to the repair, not collection")

Imagine waiting for nothing! and after collection, happily trying out my 'repaired' camera, I realiase that my manual focus ring don't work! plus all the control buttons go chaos...

I am really dissapointed with their service attitute. As for me, i hope that non of the lumixer went through what I've been to....

good luck guys...:dunno: :angry:

 

[dominator]

what a nightmare for you...

so how? what happened since your camera is problematic with new issues after the repair...

 

[policemf]

wah....so much for moving forward towards a service oriented nation...luckily ive not had any probs with my lumixs...hope i wont ever have to go down there. but ive had a similar experience at nokia.. sent my gf hp (2days old, can u believe it)

was told to collect in 2 days. 2nd day went at nite around 8pm. was told the phone wasnt ready yet have to wait for another hour. if its not gonna be ready in 2 days, y tell to come right?? haha.. plus, the phone had a small dent to come with after repair. sucks.

yup jus sharing my experience on the bad service of some 'repair' centres in singapore. guess nokia is jus like panasonic.

 

[ricohflex]

My experience with Sony and Canon repair/service has been excellent.
I am not saying Canon and Sony are better than Panasonic.
Just telling you my own experience.

 

[leews2001]

Talking about bad services in singapore. i had two bad experience at tha Apple@Orchard.

Once i bought an ipod from them. I went to the cafe just opposite. open it up. try, it wont work, cant start, keeps rebooting. so immediately i took back to the shop and show them the problem and ask for an exchange.

Nope, they wont. They told me i have to call Apple Service centre and get it sent to ang mo kio. wtf? i just bought from them 10 mins ago. i was given defective product which i couldnt even begin using, and i have no reason to exchange this 10 minutes old ipod for a functional one? and the argument/reasoning goes on....

I've been to Apple in UK, states, the kind of serivice is really pro, no nonsense. jeeez, Apple should really exterminate Apple@Orchard. Avoid that shop at all cost especially if you are a local. we dont have privileges there. (yep that's the 2nd incident)

 

[Hexlord]

Ah... this must have been a frustrating thing for you, psx2sg. You should lodge a complaint and get it all fixed at no extra charges.

 

[jeryltan]

Sorry but weren't you the one who dropped his camera into the sea during a recent photoshoot at Sentosa?

Hi all

I don' know if anyone had my experience, but just like to share the mare I've been throught.

I sent my FZ30 for repair(used only for 1/2 yr, under warranty), I ask the staff about the lead time for repair, I was told i can collect my camera for about 2 weeks.

But during the end of the 2nd week, i gave a few call to them checking about the repair status, from what the service centre claims,
1. the camera was under repair
2. the techinical side is waiting for parts thats why it is taking so long
3. since it's under warranty there should not have any cost incurred.

But on the 3rd week panasonic called me telling me that they need to replace my pcb board as 'it was corroded'. I ask them the reason, they cannot answer, just tell me 'oh you must place them in a place with dehumidifier'. I question them why am I told that there is no cost and now i need to pay, and why do they take so long to inform me on that?(which from my view, since the part was not covered under warranty then they should have inform, i mean how difficult do you need to open up a camera to discover corrosion?)

well, at the day of collection, they make me wait for more than an hour for collection and it was when i realise that the people who sent their equipment for repair who came after me, being attended and left. And right after me, and one more guy who waited for a long time also kick a big fuss then they started to entertain us(and one of the staff actually told his colleague "you just attend to the repair, not collection")

Imagine waiting for nothing! and after collection, happily trying out my 'repaired' camera, I realiase that my manual focus ring don't work! plus all the control buttons go chaos...

I am really dissapointed with their service attitute. As for me, i hope that non of the lumixer went through what I've been to....

good luck guys...:dunno: :angry:

 

[Fumio]

Hi,

I had a lousy experience wif Panasonic with my DVD player ; that after the repair (3 weeks)the service tecnician actually forgot to put back 2 screws behind the player. I even have to go back for a second repair as the first did not fix the system entirely!!.

After that experience, i told myself that i can never trust any "warranty repaired" electronic device anymore! This is because it seems that there is no quality control for repairs and everything is up to the technician's discretion unlike in production. Imagine what they might have left out in your device which could cause a failure within weeks or months just when your warranty expires!!

In fact, i immediately sold off any electronic device that i "had" to send in for warranty repair. At least i would NOT get more fustration when the device fails again!

Just my 2 cents worth. :think:

 

[Fumio]

Sorry but weren't you the one who dropped his camera into the sea during a recent photoshoot at Sentosa?

If this is the case, then it is not wrong of Panasonic to charge for the pcb board. This is a case of owner negligence. Furthermore, it is normal to wait a week before any technicians to look at your camera when there is a long queue of spoilt camera. :think:

 

[airconvent]

If this is the case, then it is not wrong of Panasonic to charge for the pcb board. This is a case of owner negligence. Furthermore, it is normal to wait a week before any technicians to look at your camera when there is a long queue of spoilt camera. :think:

probably so but this does not mean the staff can screw up the support.
recently, a government agency conducted a short ground check with their customers and realised alot of people are complaining that their staff tended to do their own thing and ignored the others as is the reported case with panasonic here. the big boss then directed that ALL staff with immediate effect are to take ownership of all problems from a customer point of view. i.e. if customer complains and if it is relevant to the agency, to receive and process the request and then internally pass the case to the correct action party. no one is allowed to say " sorry, that's not my job" anymore...
in practice this is difficult to implement but at least that is a step in the right direction...

 

[psx2sg]

Complain also no use, it's written in black and white "corrosion no protected under warranty".
To jeryl : yup, thats me =). But the complain it's not the paying issue but more to the committment the panasonic staff made and the waiting time.
to Fumio: oh it's not 'a week', but 3! infact i only called to check on the process on the repair on the 2nd week

The question i pop to the frontdesk staff was : why does the technician took so long to tell te customer that the part need to be changed? and why does the service centre even committ on "no cost" without confirming with the technician? Plus what is their queueing system's standard? I'm fine if they follow the timing (1st come 1st serve) or a delicated counter just for collection, but no. the system at their side is going as they like, if they want to skip the collection tickets they'll just serve the rest of their customer(like what i experience, they only attend to you when you started complaining...)
And you know what is the best part? the staff who attended to me simply turn a deaf ear when you ask them the question...plus a black face!

 

[jeryltan]

Just checking.. 'Cos if I were you, I would've dumped the camera and bought a new one :bsmilie: Any camera or electronic equipment for that matter, that has got sea water soaked, will not work properly again.. ever..

Complain also no use, it's written in black and white "corrosion no protected under warranty".
To jeryl : yup, thats me =). But the complain it's not the paying issue but more to the committment the panasonic staff made and the waiting time.
to Fumio: oh it's not 'a week', but 3! infact i only called to check on the process on the repair on the 2nd week

The question i pop to the frontdesk staff was : why does the technician took so long to tell te customer that the part need to be changed? and why does the service centre even committ on "no cost" without confirming with the technician? Plus what is their queueing system's standard? I'm fine if they follow the timing (1st come 1st serve) or a delicated counter just for collection, but no. the system at their side is going as they like, if they want to skip the collection tickets they'll just serve the rest of their customer(like what i experience, they only attend to you when you started complaining...)
And you know what is the best part? the staff who attended to me simply turn a deaf ear when you ask them the question...plus a black face!

 

[psx2sg]

Just checking.. 'Cos if I were you, I would've dumped the camera and bought a new one :bsmilie: Any camera or electronic equipment for that matter, that has got sea water soaked, will not work properly again.. ever..

Dump?!! cannot la, heart pain leh.... :cry: unless you got a set to sell me cheap cheap..:bsmilie: :bsmilie: :bsmilie:

 

[unseen]

Complain also no use, it's written in black and white "corrosion no protected under warranty".
To jeryl : yup, thats me =). But the complain it's not the paying issue but more to the committment the panasonic staff made and the waiting time.
to Fumio: oh it's not 'a week', but 3! infact i only called to check on the process on the repair on the 2nd week

The question i pop to the frontdesk staff was : why does the technician took so long to tell te customer that the part need to be changed? and why does the service centre even committ on "no cost" without confirming with the technician? Plus what is their queueing system's standard? I'm fine if they follow the timing (1st come 1st serve) or a delicated counter just for collection, but no. the system at their side is going as they like, if they want to skip the collection tickets they'll just serve the rest of their customer(like what i experience, they only attend to you when you started complaining...)
And you know what is the best part? the staff who attended to me simply turn a deaf ear when you ask them the question...plus a black face!

I think you need to read your warranty card for the answers. In case of owner negligence, your warranty's voided if i'm not wrong. What they say is correct about the no cost, but I bet you never told them you dropped your camera into the sea right? Thus, given that you didn't tell them the whole story, I guess they left out the whole story as well.

Personally I wouldn't be happy if they took so long to fix it either. They won't take more than a day to fix a camera. I believe what they told you about waiting for parts etc is standard reply they give to everyone. It just happens that there are more people, so the wait is longer.

Anyway since you dropped your camera into the sea, I'd give panasonic the benefit of the doubt this time round. Salt crystals would have crystalised in the camera. At the service center the camera might have been working, but due to exposure to different environment the salt crystals might shift and move and kill other parts of the electronics. This can happen anytime anywhere.

You should be happy they left it in the workshop so long, at least the crystals got time to crystalise. otherwise they fix it, you use it for a day and it'll die again.

I suggest you eat the humble pie and actually tell them that you screwed it up, then they'll know what to look for, and what to replace, and what to clean. Otherwise they'll just fix what's wrong, and when more things pop up they'll just charge you for it again.

note: I won't be surprised if your newly fixed PCB dies on you again soon, with you trying your luck to get free repair. the root of the problem is not removed yet.

I think the only thing i'd agree with you is them screwing up the collection. :thumbsd:
However, did you leave out any parts of your story again? did you forget to get a queue ticket?

 

[XXX Boy]

If you drop your camera in the sea, I see no reason why Panasonics get you to pay to change the PCB board. In fact, those technicians are very professional indeed. They can tell you straight that 'your camera is beyond repair'.

 

[unseen]

If you drop your camera in the sea, I see no reason why Panasonics get you to pay to change the PCB board. In fact, those technicians are very professional indeed. They can tell you straight that 'your camera is beyond repair'.

I believe psx2sg neglected to tell them that he dropped his camera into the sea. He has indicated he even questioned the technicians why his camera was corroded.

 

[jeryltan]

Well, the cost of repairing it to it's original condition is going to be far more than the price of a new one.. And it'll never be the same again..

Dump?!! cannot la, heart pain leh.... :cry: unless you got a set to sell me cheap cheap..:bsmilie: :bsmilie: :bsmilie:

 

[student]

Hi all

I don' know if anyone had my experience, but just like to share the mare I've been throught.

I sent my FZ30 for repair(used only for 1/2 yr, under warranty), I ask the staff about the lead time for repair, I was told i can collect my camera for about 2 weeks.

But during the end of the 2nd week, i gave a few call to them checking about the repair status, from what the service centre claims,
1. the camera was under repair
2. the techinical side is waiting for parts thats why it is taking so long
3. since it's under warranty there should not have any cost incurred.

But on the 3rd week panasonic called me telling me that they need to replace my pcb board as 'it was corroded'. I ask them the reason, they cannot answer, just tell me 'oh you must place them in a place with dehumidifier'. I question them why am I told that there is no cost and now i need to pay, and why do they take so long to inform me on that?(which from my view, since the part was not covered under warranty then they should have inform, i mean how difficult do you need to open up a camera to discover corrosion?)

well, at the day of collection, they make me wait for more than an hour for collection and it was when i realise that the people who sent their equipment for repair who came after me, being attended and left. And right after me, and one more guy who waited for a long time also kick a big fuss then they started to entertain us(and one of the staff actually told his colleague "you just attend to the repair, not collection")

Imagine waiting for nothing! and after collection, happily trying out my 'repaired' camera, I realiase that my manual focus ring don't work! plus all the control buttons go chaos...

I am really dissapointed with their service attitute. As for me, i hope that non of the lumixer went through what I've been to....

good luck guys...:dunno: :angry:

You are totally not above board!

1 You gave us the impression that your camera was under warranty when in fact the warranty was void because you had dropped it into sea water.

2 You were not truthful with the service people in not informing them that you had dropped the camera into sea water. Since they had no means to know that, it just take them a little longer to figure things out.

Service is a two way process. It seems to me that you were trying to cheat Panasonic when you had made void the warranty. And then you cry foul? You were lucky that Panasonic did not take you to task for trying to cheat them!

While Panasonic service could improve, do you not think that your own attitude also need to change?

 

[Moonstone]

Yes, like what student had said; at first I thought that Panasonic is that unreasonable until jeryltan pointed out what've really happened! Your thread really mislead us in the first place. You should have laid out the whole scenario properly and avoid misunderstanding.

 

[jeryltan]

Come on guys.. Cool it To be fair, don't assume that everyone knows that salt water greatly increases the rate of corrosion..