[Singh007]

I am planning on driving down to the Seattle area from Vancouver Canada to buy a Panasonic 65" from costco. I am aware that panasonic USA has addressed the issue of floating brightness are coming in-home to do necessary repairs for free. The problem is, that i'm buying a USA TV, and the warranty will not apply here in Canada. And besides, panasonic Canada wont even acknowledge the issue.


Now, my idea is to call panasonic and get the name and address of an authorized dealer in the Washington area. Then I want to call them and tell them that I will be driving on August XX to purchase a TV from costco, and then want to drive straight to their repair shop to get it fixed before I drive back home to Canada.


Do you think that they will authorize this, even though the TV has not even been bought yet? In other words, can i get the repair shop to set up a repair date/time, and have parts ready to go, even though I haven't even bought the tv yet? Thanks in advance.

 

[primal_phil]

Probably not. They will probably have to register the product and since you wont have it at the time of the call, they will refuse the service call.

 

[Singh007]



Quote:
Originally Posted by primal_phil /forum/post/20816239


Probably not. They will probably have to register the product and since you wont have it at the time of the call, they will refuse the service call.

If that is the case, i will tell Panasonic that they just lost a $3000 sale. Not sure if they would care.

 

[Singh007]

This could mean that i will have to buy it, take it home, register it. Drive the 65" incher back to the states, get it fixed, and haul it back. What a headache! Is it worth it? Do I even have any other options? I need a nice plasma right now.

 

[rogo]

Wait till the fix is in the live sets?

 

[primal_phil]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Singh007 /forum/post/0


Is it worth it? Do I even have any other options? I need a nice plasma right now.

Is it worth it. Nope ( well thats what i think)

You should wait for the real fix from panasonic canada. If you buy it now, the only thing you will be doing,on your set, is look for the fbr and that my friend will drive you crazy.

 

[RandyWalters]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Singh007 /forum/post/20816254


This could mean that i will have to buy it, take it home, register it. Drive the 65" incher back to the states, get it fixed, and haul it back. What a headache! Is it worth it? Do I even have any other options? I need a nice plasma right now.

Only you can determine if this is worth it or not. Sounds like a lot of hassle to me, and i don't think your plans will work.


Since a USA TV is only warrantied in the USA, you cannot register a USA market TV at a Canadian address. And Panasonic Canada will not touch a USA-bought TV if it needs service or repair since they won't get paid. And for Panasonic to authorize an FBr fix, you have to first call them and open a case, then a service tech needs to come to your house to confirm it has FBr so that's not gonna happen if you have a USA-bought TV. And it's not likely that a USA repair shop will just let you bring your new TV in to to their shop to see if it exhibits FBr or not.


Options:


1. Wait until the August-built TVs start to replace older inventory (which could take several months and still no guarantee that you'll receive an updated unit).


2. Just buy the TV and if it has FBr then just return it to Costco for a refund. It is possible that the one you get won't exhibit FBr, or if it does it might not be visible on the type of content that you watch.


3. Buy a Samsung.


Since a USA-bought TV does not have any warranty in Canada, consider visiting the authorized Panasonic repair shops in Seattle and ask them if they'd be willing to inspect a brand new TV for FBr if you bring it to them, and while you're at it also ask them if they'd be able to get Panasonic to cover a warranty repair if you bring a dead TV to their shop. Panasonic may not allow these shenannigans since you're working around their company policy by buying an out-of-market TV.

 

[primal_phil]

Not sure but i think costco canada doesnt even have the st30

 

[RandyWalters]



Quote:
Originally Posted by primal_phil /forum/post/20819190


Not sure but i think costco canada doesnt even have the st30

He's talking about buying it in Seattle, not Canada, and he's not talking about buying an ST30.

 

[jephdood]

How 'bout this plan: You buy TWO of the TV's.. leave them with me.. I'll call for repair on both and handle all that.. then you take one of them back to Canada and I keep the other. Everybody wins!

 

[smitty]

I purchased by GT30 from Best Buy in mid-July and received a July build date. Thus, you may not need to wait several months to get an August build if you buy from a retailer that does not have a lot of Panasonic plasma's in stock (as opposed to Amazon, which appears to have a lot of stock of TV's with build dates several months older). So one idea that may or may not work is to check with the Best Buy's in the Seattle area and see what their current stock is like. When I was looking at the GT30's online, I checked the availability at various BB stores, and all of them in my area said it would take several days to get the set. So perhaps if you find the same situation in Seattle, it might indicate that you're likely to get an August build.


I would also say that the FBr issue may not be that big of a problem for you. I don't see it on my set, and when I've looked at the "problem" videos, it has been barely noticeable. It gets a lot of publicity because all of us on this forum are very particular, but maybe you're stressing about it too much.


So maybe you take your chances on buying a set from a retailer that might be more likely to have August stock, and take your chances that it won't bother you even if you get earlier stock.


Just a thought (or two).

 

[jephdood]

Where do you find build dates? Can a store rep. check his/her stock and be able to tell somehow before you buy?

 

[Sunkist]

Build date is on the back of the TV so I doubt they will open them up to check unfortunately.