Hello,
Another update from the Better Business Bureau. Panasonic has responded and this response is included below. I edited out the last names of all involved parties.On July 29, 2011, the business provided the following information:
Please see comments below from our field service group regarding Mr. XXXX's TV:
7/21/11: Jim XXXX and Alex XXXX evaluated the unit this afternoon in the engineering lab. Unit has burn in of the HP logo in the lower left corner of the screen. The noise that customer is complaining about is evident in standard mode and this is normal in standard mode as part of energy saving. The noise is not evident in any other mode.
I called Mr. XXXX and advised that unit is working to specifications and that burn in of HP logo will not be covered under warranty. Unit will be taken for Advisory TV tomorrow for return to the customer.
7/26/11: The unit was picked up from Advisory TV and pulled into engineering on 7-21-11 the unit was tested and found to be operating as per specifications, the unit does show signs of image retention that was caused by a video game this will not be covered under warranty. The unit was pulled from Engineering and delivered back to Advisory on 7-25-11. On 7-26-11 Advisory contacted the customer to make arrangements to deliver the unit back to the customer, the customer was not available so a message was left on the answering machine and they are still waiting for the customer to return their call.
Regretfully, as stated on page 7 of your owner's manual, "Do not display a still picture for a long time. This causes the image to remain on the plasma screen ("image retention"). This is not considered a malfunction and is not covered by the warranty.
Therefore, we must respectfully decline the customer's request for refund or replacement.Lastly, below is my response:
Hello,
Please see my responses below and let me know if anything is not clear.
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The noise that customer is complaining about is evident in standard mode and this is normal in standard mode as part of energy saving.
>> This is not normal and the noise is evident in every mode - including THX. I can provide high resolution photographs upon request with the mode clearly shown in the image.
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Unit has burn in of the HP logo in the lower left corner of the screen.
and
I called Mr. XXXX and advised that unit is working to specifications and that burn in of HP logo will not be covered under warranty.
>> Jim did call, however, he obviously did not review my case and is not being clear about the details of our conversation.
The burn in was NOT caused by an HP computer screensaver and was NOT an HP logo. I previously explained to him when we spoke. The burn in was a result of playing the game, FALLOUT 3, for three hours and the letters are actually 'AP' which stands for ACTION POINTS. This was clearly explained - multiple times - to each representative I spoke with at Panasonic.
For burn-in to occur after this short an amount of time is abnormal and proof that the television is not working within spec. Again, I can provide high resolution photographs for review.
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7/26/11: The unit was picked up from Advisory TV and pulled into engineering on 7-21-11 the unit was tested and found to be operating as per specifications, the unit does show signs of image retention that was caused by a video game this will not be covered under warranty.
>> Jim, please clarify: previously you attributed the image retention to a an HP logo, now its a video game - why did this changed?
Also, why did you state it was from an HP screen saver in the first place?
Its my assumption that this could better justify your companies assertion that the image retention was most definitely a result of 'abuse' - displaying a still image on screen for an extended period of time - and not normal use - playing a video game.
Additionally, what Jim is not being clear about is that the TV was reviewed by Panasonic multiple times and they kept revising their appraisal - sometimes saying the TV was within spec and, other times, saying it was determined to not be working properly.
Photographs were first reviewed in May and June and it was decided by the engineer that the TV was operating out of spec and needed an 'a-board' replacement.
This was later revised and then I was told it was not operating out of spec and that no repairs would be done. This was told to me via an email from Advisory TV. I can provide this email and all other correspondences if necessary.
After I called to see what happened, this was revised again and the way it was explained to me was that they had the model number's confused - the last tech that reviewed my case thought I had a Panasonic Viera TC-P50S2, which was incorrect. They said the noise would be acceptable on an S2, but not my high-end GT25. I find this excuse questionable since Panasonic had all my purchase information included with the case.
After this the TV was picked up, with the intent for Advisory to repair it. I would like to reiterate that the Panasonic representative, Helen, specifically said the TV was being picked up to be repaired.
Panasonic/Advisory TV then held the TV for 2-3 weeks only to review it again and decide not to repair it at all.
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On 7-26-11 Advisory contacted the customer to make arrangements to deliver the unit back to the customer, the customer was not available so a message was left on the answering machine and they are still waiting for the customer to return their call.
>> This doesn't make sense. No message was left on my cell phone and the TV was returned on Friday, July 29.
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Regretfully, as stated on page 7 of your owner's manual, "Do not display a still picture for a long time. This causes the image to remain on the plasma screen ("image retention"). This is not considered a malfunction and is not covered by the warranty.
>> This is true and, contrary to your belief, I read my owner's manual. I did not display a still picture for a long time - I displayed a video game, which was constantly moving.
Every video game, sporting event, and TV network station has static graphics on screen for extended periods of time. To clarify, please see the video below for the exact game I was playing:
http://www.g4tv.com/videos/26926/Fal...Gameplay-Demo/
Also, here is a typical EPSN TV broadcast. Note the static images at the bottom of the screen. According to Jim's assertions, if I watched this show for up to 3 hours, I would not be covered by my warranty if image retention occured:
http://capitalsoutsider.com/files/20...-suspended.jpg
Also, from FOX NEWS:
http://micahmcmillan.files.wordpress...-lis_weihl.jpg
These are obviously NOT still pictures and, most importantly, no were in your manual does it state NOT to play video games on the TV. All of the examples shown above are NORMAL usage and not abuse as you and your company contends.
This complaint is valid and needs to be addressed. Also, Jim is using the phrase 'Image Retention' which means that the retention fades after a time. Burn-In, which is the case with this TV, is different. Please see the Wikipedia entry below for a complete summary:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image_persistence
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>> What I only briefly touched on above was the utter incompetence of Panasonic throughout this experience. See the forum thread below for more more details regarding this:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1338361
If you need a detailed timeline in Word format, I'll be happy to provide it.
>> Its important to also note that Panasonic's timeline only details from July 21 thru July 26, but this case was started on May 30. If after this response, Panasonic is still insistent on not refunding the cost of or replacing the TV, I insist that they include ALL THE NOTES from my case. For reference, my case number was 28665653.
Best Regards
Good luck with your new set Phil.
