Panasonic TH-46PZ85U Broken and Denied Warranty

This has happened to other Plasma TVs before. It is very rare for a Panasonic, but a little less rare in other brands. It seems that sometimes when an internal component or power supply blows, the force of that sudden failure (the POP you heard) cracks the glass panel from the other side. You should find out what components are located directly behind the areas that cracked. Can you tell where the crack started and ended?


Here's a thread about it, and i posted some other links to more threads. You should gather as much information about this problem as possible, then write to someone higher up at Panasonic and cite all these references to other instances of glass cracking on it's own. You might also want to directly contact some of the local service centers that perform warranty repairs for Panasonic and ask them to come evaluate your set firsthand - it should be pretty clear that the "point of imact" is BEHIND the protective outer glass and that there's no way you could have damaged it yourself. He could then get Panasonic to cover the repair.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=808531


And one of the CNet threads.
http://forums.cnet.com/5208-4_102-0....hreadID=340997


Direct Link to your picture:
http://mypicturehost.com/out.php/i72517_TV2.jpg


Did you buy the TV with a good credit card that adds one year to the manufacturer's warranty? If so, maybe the repair shop can declare the crack is from an internal failure and get the credit card provider to cover the cost of repair (probably cheaper to get a whole new TV though).


And if the card offers damage protection for the first year then you might want to file a claim before your one year is up.



Quote:
Originally Posted by RandyWalters /forum/post/18198299


What dealer did you buy the TV from? And do you have a link to the terms of the warranty? Was it Best Buy?


I ask because others were told that a certain warranty covered physical damage and that they'd get a credit for the amount of the warranty if they didn't make any claims before it expired, but the salesman lied in order to make the sale.

Click to expand...

It's a Canadian Department store. Click Here


Here's the details of the warranty I purchased. Click Here


I know what you're gonna say, but let me reassure you that is just legal mumbo jumbo. I purchased an LCD TV from them with the same warranty about 5 years ago. It was a early generation Sammy and I read that replacing the control board where the HDMI port was would increase the picture quality and contrast ratio. So I broke the HDMI jack on purpose by bending it up and down until it snapped. Called the 800 number on the warranty and in a few weeks had a new board installed. No questions asked.



Quote:
Originally Posted by msvara /forum/post/18206557


It's a Canadian Department store. Click Here


Here's the details of the warranty I purchased. Click Here


I know what you're gonna say, but let me reassure you that is just legal mumbo jumbo. I purchased an LCD TV from them with the same warranty about 5 years ago. It was a early generation Sammy and I read that replacing the control board where the HDMI port was would increase the picture quality and contrast ratio. So I broke the HDMI jack on purpose by bending it up and down until it snapped. Called the 800 number on the warranty and in a few weeks had a new board installed. No questions asked.

Click to expand...

First of all Leon's, in my experience, has the worse customer service of any store in Canada. The story I could tell you.


Secondly, it's no wonder that TV manufacturer's are reluctant to cave in to customer complaints and cause them to question consumer issues and motivations after reading this example of fraud.


On the other hand, you picked a good store to rip off.



Quote:
Originally Posted by HawaiianBoy2593 /forum/post/18198474


Hey Randy,

Do you mind finding those threads that had the BB employees selling plans unethically like that? I'd like to know, I've been partnering with some corporate employees and we want to find out and put a stop to it. This is more of us needing to educate our employees, not us terminating them or anything like that.

Click to expand...

Well maybe if Best Buy wouldn't put so much goddamn emphasis on selling those extended warranties, then the employees wouldn't have to lie in order to sell them.


Admit it, salesmen are judged on how many warranties they sell. They don't make commission off of them, but the store managers sure receive nice paychecks if the store meets it's quotas for warranties.


Bigger paycheck for SM = more pressuring from him on salesman to push the warranties = salesmen lying in order to actually sell the warranties.


Until BB decides to get rid of the kickbacks for the warranties, this practice will continue. Salesmen will lie to sell the warranties, and people will believe those lies. To be honest, I don't even blame the salesmen, because I used to work in electronics at Sears. As bad as Best Buy is at pushing the warranties, trust me, Sears corporate makes you push them even harder. They threaten your job if you don't meet your PA (Protection Agreement) goal. It's a joke. The SM of the store here actually told me one time "To be honest, I would rather you NOT sell a TV if you aren't able to get the customer to buy the PA" I was like WTF are you joking?


Sears is all about the PA.