About a month ago bought a new TH-58PZ850U, unboxed it and right out of the box it would pop when you powered it on, also pop when you power it off. Everything works on it, but I called Panasonic Concierge service and opened a call with them. It's now been over 3 weeks since I opened that service request and I've yet to see a local service person. The local service who got the call to come to my house says they are waiting on parts, and Panasonic when I call them state the repair place has the spares. I'm getting the run around to say the least. It hasn't been that big of a deal since that was the only issue, until tonight. Now it won't power on, or when I can get it to power on it stays on for just a few seconds and I get a flashing red light on the lower left of the bezel. So apparently that popping sound had something to do with it now not even powering on. I guess I got a lemon and I should have brought it back to Ultimate Electronics that first day, only problem is it's so heavy I didn't want to mess with packing it back up and driving 70+ miles back to the store.

Anyone know how to escalate an open case with Panasonic? :mad:

Maybe call the store you purchased form and see if you can exchange it? Or, see if they will contact the Panasonic rep for that area and get the ball rolling for you in regards to the repairs. When you call, ask for the manager and be polite.

About a month ago bought a new TH-58PZ850U, unboxed it and right out of the box it would pop when you powered it on, also pop when you power it off. Everything works on it, but I called Panasonic Concierge service and opened a call with them. It's now been over 3 weeks since I opened that service request and I've yet to see a local service person. The local service who got the call to come to my house says they are waiting on parts, and Panasonic when I call them state the repair place has the spares. I'm getting the run around to say the least. It hasn't been that big of a deal since that was the only issue, until tonight. Now it won't power on, or when I can get it to power on it stays on for just a few seconds and I get a flashing red light on the lower left of the bezel. So apparently that popping sound had something to do with it now not even powering on. I guess I got a lemon and I should have brought it back to Ultimate Electronics that first day, only problem is it's so heavy I didn't want to mess with packing it back up and driving 70+ miles back to the store.

Anyone know how to escalate an open case with Panasonic? :mad:

I have dealt with Panasonic Concierge...I had no problem with getting an answer from them, just with getting a replacement display under warranty (long story). I never had to escalate an open case, but my suggestion is to keep track of the dates, times, and names of people that you have spoken to at Panasonic.

Is the repair facility fairly close? Do they have a "loaner" policy? This is a big factor, as they may have to bring your TV to their shop and it could be there for anywhere from 1-3 weeks, depending on parts and their repair turnaround schedule.

Keep an open dialogue going with your repair shop and have them "bug" Panasonic about parts. You may have to be the squeaky wheel and call Panasonic a number of times to pester them.

I'm going to PM you the number I used for Panasonic Concierge and a Customer Service number, in case you need to report any delays to a customer service rep. This might not buy you anything, but it can't hurt.

Been there...feel your pain. :(

Good luck! :)

About a month ago bought a new TH-58PZ850U, unboxed it and right out of the box it would pop when you powered it on, also pop when you power it off. Everything works on it, but I called Panasonic Concierge service and opened a call with them. It's now been over 3 weeks since I opened that service request and I've yet to see a local service person. The local service who got the call to come to my house says they are waiting on parts, and Panasonic when I call them state the repair place has the spares. I'm getting the run around to say the least. Chances are that the problem is with the contracted service center. Panasonic basically just hands it over to their authorized service center and from then on you're dealing directly with the servicer - and sometimes they can be hit and miss in the service department. Panasonic repair parts typically take no more than a week to arrive at the servicer's shop and they virtually never backorder them so it sounds like the servicer is giving you the run around for whatever reason. If they're the only servicer in the surrounding area and/or are far from your house then they may be overloaded with work and unable to respond to your house in a timely manner (it can happen in rural areas for instance) and are making false excuses to cover their delay.

If there is another authorized Panasonic servicer in your area, contact them instead and explain that the other guy isn't responding to your service ticket. What city do you live in?

sorry to hear about that but your right about Panasonic Customer service...i own a panny too and the customer service its not that great. They wont replace a product at all even if still in warranty.

Sorry to hear about the poor service from Panasonic.

sorry to hear about that but your right about Panasonic Customer service...i own a panny too and the customer service its not that great. They wont replace a product at all even if still in warranty.That's not true at all and is irresponsible to post as such.

Several people here alone have posted that Panasonic has replaced their defective TVs under warranty when they were either un-repairable, or when the cost to repair it exceeded it's value. Many AVSers even got a newer, larger, and or higher-end model than the one that got scrapped.

Panasonic's customer service might not always be perfect, but it's better than any other flat panel manufacture with the exception of maybe Pioneer.

That's not true at all and is irresponsible to post as such.

Several people here alone have posted that Panasonic has replaced their defective TVs under warranty when they were either un-repairable, or when the cost to repair it exceeded it's value. Many AVSers even got a newer and higher-end model than the one that got scrapped.
its not irresponsible at all ... why would you get your tv fixed when you paid so much money for it . Under warranty lots of known other brands replace items without any other questions. Its my own opinion about Panasonic customer service and ill keep it . I am happy with the product but not with the Customer Service.

its not irresponsible at all ... why would you get your tv fixed when you paid so much money for it . Under warranty lots of known other brands replace items without any other questions. Its my own opinion about Panasonic customer service and ill keep it . I am happy with the product but not with the Customer Service.You're certainly welcome to your opinion, but don't come here and post it as fact when there's already a history on AVS that several people have gotten theirs replaced as i said above.

What is your particular circumstance?

sorry to hear about that but your right about Panasonic Customer service...i own a panny too and the customer service its not that great. They wont replace a product at all even if still in warranty.

Actually, I am in the process of getting my 42S1 replaced by Panasonic. I will say the communication with Panasonic Customer Service has been less than adequate at times.

A lot of this naturally seems to stem from the outsourcing of work to local repair centers but there is fault with their internal procedure as well. While you can talk with "Concierge" reps they only have a general understanding of the actual status of your repair, any important decision making apparently is forwarded by "management" to the local field rep who you are then not allowed to contact directly. Not a quick process. I've had a broken TV for half as long as I've had a working model now.

Anyway, currently on day 7 of "7 to 10" days of expected arrival of the replacement. So hopefully no more issues once resolved.

Several people here alone have posted that Panasonic has replaced their defective TVs under warranty when they were either un-repairable, or when the cost to repair it exceeded it's value. Many AVSers even got a newer, larger, and or higher-end model than the one that got scrapped.

Panasonic's customer service might not always be perfect, but it's better than any other flat panel manufacture with the exception of maybe Pioneer.

Randy...no one is doubting that Panasonic technical support (don't confuse them with CUSTOMER support...they are (2) completely different entities) is better than a number of other companies. This doesn't mean that some of us may or may not have gotten the runaround from them, whether to set up a service call promptly and/or to honor a legitimate warranty repair (which they did NOT in my case). I know that others have posted positive experiences with them...have you ever had to deal with Panasonic Concierge personally?

I will say the communication with Panasonic Customer Service has been less than adequate at times.

A lot of this naturally seems to stem from the outsourcing of work to local repair centers but there is fault with their internal procedure as well. While you can talk with "Concierge" reps they only have a general understanding of the actual status of your repair, any important decision making apparently is forwarded by "management" to the local field rep who you are then not allowed to contact directly. Not a quick process. I've had a broken TV for half as long as I've had a working model now.

Yes...the repeated phone calls to "Concierge" can be annoying. Ironically, my local "repair shop" had no problems with my repair scenario and didn't consider my issue to be the result of customer neglect and/or abuse. The local Panasonic field rep. was "supposed" to come on-site at my repair shop to see the problem firsthand. That NEVER happened and Concierge just decided that my problem wasn't covered by warranty and washed their hands of it.

They (CUSTOMER service) wouldn't budge on getting me a new display, but felt compelled to offer me a new TV at a 20% discount. Yeah...bribe me to stay a Panasonic customer...I very quickly decided that I would NEVER buy another Panasonic TV, though I still think that they are good TVs.

a lot of this is going to stem from where you are located as well. Here in Canada, I can honestly say I will never own another panasonic product again. I was jerked around for 3 months or more with trying to get a purple snake infested tv repaired. I know the people at the repair shop, and I know where the problem was, and it was lack of communication from Panasonic themselves.

Sad thing is I still have 2 plasma's from them, half a dozen phones and other stuff as well. And my 2nd plasma is already showing signs of puple'ness as well- px77u

That sucks to here about the trouble getting Panny's fixed. I have a TH-58PZ800U that messed up a week ago. It has a off rainbow colored line running top to bottom about 1/8th an inch thick and about 4 inches from the left side of the screen. I was hoping it would be an easy ordeal but hearing these stories I am not going in with much hope of an easy resolution!!!!!!!!!

i own a Philips LCD and more other Philips products. But when i called Philips to tell them about my LCD having white corners they tell me to hold the line for 1 minute and after that the guy ask me to confirm my address because they will send me a new LCD tv . Even him said why bother to repair it when i can take advance of my 1 year manufacturer warranty . I don't want to be a pain to other users or making Panasonic a bad product, but I am the customer and i got the power to speak and judge the product i buy. I own Panasonic and i am happy with it but feel kinda insecure about having technical problems.

i own a Philips LCD and more other Philips products. But when i called Philips to tell them about my LCD having white corners they tell me to hold the line for 1 minute and after that the guy ask me to confirm my address because they will send me a new LCD tv . Even him said why bother to repair it when i can take advance of my 1 year manufacturer warranty . I don't want to be a pain to other users or making Panasonic a bad product, but I am the customer and i got the power to speak and judge the product i buy. I own Panasonic and i am happy with it but feel kinda insecure about having technical problems.So why would you post that Panasonic will never replace a defective TV under warranty (which is not true), when you don't know what their policy is and you have no personal experience with them?

And Philips warranty policy on small LCD TVs (under 42" i believe) is to replace defective TVs with either new or refurbished units and do you know why? Because they don't have repair parts available for their smaller LCD TVs just like a lot of other 3rd tier TV makers (Vizio, Polaroid, Olivia, etc). It's cheaper and easier to just replace the TV instead of paying someone to fix it. And you're lucky to get such quick help from Philips because their customer service is usually pretty bad. Read some of the Philips threads and you'll see a lot of complaints. This has nothing to do with Panasonic's policy anway.

Ok guys don't let Randy fool you, he really is a huge Samsung fan.:)

Ahh, I feel like I've found a home here. My mantra lately is that Panasonic sucks. I won't go into it here, since I've posted in other spots. But, I bought Panasonic after 30 years plus of staying away, and now I'll go back to staying away for another 30 years.

Update! A Panasonic escalation manager called me, along with the local repair person who Panasonic works with in my area. The local repair said the parts were never even ordered! The escalation manager said they had an issue during a 4 day stretch where any parts orders were essentially lost. So I assume I fell into that scenario. That doesn't account for the remaining time of the 3 week + this case has been opened. I informed both the local tech and panasonic of just that point.

I asked the manager just to send me a replacement tv, she refused and the reasoning was they did not have any in inventory and the 2010 models are not due out until August. So anyway she is having numerous parts shipped over night to the local repair person. She did offer me an additional years warranty, so that is cool. I'll keep everyone posted if/when the repair person arrives and what ends up fixing these issues.

BTW, I called Ultimate Electronics today to see if I could return the tv, they said my 30 days is up, tv was purchased on April 22nd. I reminded Panasonic of that fact too, since they drug their feet getting this issue resolved! I should have returned it from the very first day, problem is the tv is so heavy, between my wife and myself it was too heavy to pack back up and hump up the stairs and put in my truck.

Ok guys don't let Randy fool you, he really is a huge Samsung fan.:)

He never answered my question..."...have you ever had to deal with Panasonic Concierge personally?" ;)

So far have had good luck with my panasonics. However if I had a problem I would find the president of the company and write and call until I got answer. Once you have a name you can usually figure out their email from the email format of the company. Ultimate electronics may also help or you could contact one of the forum sponsors who are usually helpful even if you didn't purchase the plasma from them. It creates good will and encourages people to continue buying these models.

Good luck.

So far have had good luck with my panasonics. However if I had a problem I would find the president of the company and write and call until I got answer. Once you have a name you can usually figure out their email from the email format of the company. Ultimate electronics may also help or you could contact one of the forum sponsors who are usually helpful even if you didn't purchase the plasma from them. It creates good will and encourages people to continue buying these models.

Good luck.

With all due respect...I wouldn't bet the farm on any of these ideas. I tried to do what you suggested above and no matter how far you try to go "up the chain", you either get ignored by those not officially in the loop and/or you get the same PR bullsh*t.

All you can do is to pester both Panasonic Concierge and your local repair facility.

He never answered my question..."...have you ever had to deal with Panasonic Concierge personally?" ;)Yes i have - twice. No problems - they were very helpful. And i have seen many posts here from other AVSers over the past few years that were taken care of promptly and to their satisfaction.

that's so funny. Let people to speak their opinion. Panasonic its a good brand and i would recommend to someone to buy it but i would let them know about customer service too. Feed Back ...either positive or negative only makes the brand stronger in the future.

Update! Repair guy coming on Monday to replace 7 boards, yes 7! They are obviously going to just shotgun my problem. The Panasonic rep said there was 11 total in the entire tv, so hopefully this will solve the issue. Not crazy about gutting a brand new tv but what can you do?? Panasonic is offering me an additional warranty so that's cool. Hopefully I won't need it!

The odd thing, after my tv powered down twice a few nights ago, that issue has not returned and now my initial popping sound when you turn tv off and also on is now gone! Weird.