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I got my TH-42PA20U in August 2003. Since it was obviously from the first three months of production, I kept waiting for the dreaded "shutdown problem" to happen, but it never did.
Then, this week, after 14 months and 3200 hours of service (per the internal service hours counter), the shutdown problem began happening. It's following the usual course. First one shutdown, then 2 the next day, then 4 the next day, coming more frequently as time goes on. It can be fixed by pulling the power cord out and plugging it back in.
Of course, it waited until the unit was no longer covered by the factory warranty. I did not buy an extended warranty when I could have, because I didn't think that this problem was going to happen if it had not happened after 12 months and 2800 hours of use.
So, two things:
1. Your TH-42PA20U is NEVER too old or too well used for you to feel safe from this problem. If you have a TH-42PA20U that might be from the first few months of production, be worried...
2. Has anyone had any luck getting Panasonic to cover this repair later than 12 months after purchase? This is a known, Day One defect that Panasonic has acknowledged, so I feel that they owe me the repair even though the unit is older than 12 months old. On the other hand, given everything I have heard about the poor attitude at Panasonic Technical Support, I'm not feeling very hopeful about this.
Any experience or advice?
Then, this week, after 14 months and 3200 hours of service (per the internal service hours counter), the shutdown problem began happening. It's following the usual course. First one shutdown, then 2 the next day, then 4 the next day, coming more frequently as time goes on. It can be fixed by pulling the power cord out and plugging it back in.
Of course, it waited until the unit was no longer covered by the factory warranty. I did not buy an extended warranty when I could have, because I didn't think that this problem was going to happen if it had not happened after 12 months and 2800 hours of use.
So, two things:
1. Your TH-42PA20U is NEVER too old or too well used for you to feel safe from this problem. If you have a TH-42PA20U that might be from the first few months of production, be worried...
2. Has anyone had any luck getting Panasonic to cover this repair later than 12 months after purchase? This is a known, Day One defect that Panasonic has acknowledged, so I feel that they owe me the repair even though the unit is older than 12 months old. On the other hand, given everything I have heard about the poor attitude at Panasonic Technical Support, I'm not feeling very hopeful about this.
Any experience or advice?