Complaint Review: Panasonic - McAllen Texas

Just spectacularly bad ‘customer service.’  You would not BELIEVE what scumbags this company is! I called three weeks ago to find out what it would cost to get the sensor of my Lumix DMC-LX5 cleaned. I mean, take a look how dirty this camera is:

http://imgur.com/a/L4dTh

And the camera is only two years old! It started with one splotch and then, BAM!, all of a sudden, one day I turned it on and it looked like that. I’ve owned cameras twice as long and never had a problem like that. 

So I called their ‘support line’ at 800-211-7262 and suffered through the stupid automated ‘help’ system until I finally talked to a live human who told me it would cost $50 to get the sensor cleaned. He gives me this address in McAllen, Texas where they do the work and tells me to mail it there. But he won’t give me a reference or case number, instead telling me to just put a letter in the box with the camera. I thought that was weird but just in case I paid extra for tracking and insurance. So I mailed it that day to Texas. 

Yesterday I got a Service Authorization Form letter from Panasonic stating it’s now $156.50 (!) with absolutely NO EXPLANATION as to why the additional costs are required. So today I called Panasonic ‘customer support’ at the same number (and suffer through the automated ‘help’ system--God, WHY do companies use these stupid things?) and they basically tell me tough. Then I get “Larry,”--if that’s his real name, who knows--who interrupts constantly and isn’t much help and tells me, basically, tough, that’s the price. And since I don’t have a CASE NUMBER (See how they scam you now?) they can’t prove I was quoted that price. 

So I ask to speak to a supervisor and he puts me on hold for half an hour. That’s “Andrew”--if that’s his real name--gets on and is unfriendly from the start. Here’s a tip, ‘Andy,’ when somebody greets you with , “Hi, how are you doing?” You don’t respond with SILENCE. It’s rude. Didn’t the dog you call a mother teach you that? Anyway, I tell him what my problem is with the quote and the unexplained up-charge in the estimate and he responds, “So what I’m hearing is you are saying you don’t want us to repair it and to box it up and ship it back to you.” Uh, no, that’s not what I said AT ALL. 

And it pretty much went downhill from there. He didn’t make one single attempt to resolve the issue in ANY WAY shape or form. Basically, “Andrew” isn’t really somebody who’s hired to RESOLVE an issue. He’s hired to anger you until you either start screaming or use profanity and he’s justified in hanging up on you, or he waits you out until you just hang up. Either way, they win. Because what Panasonic is doing can be described in three words: 

BAIT AND SWITCH. 

It’s literally a used car lot tactic that’s be adopted by a multi-national electronics company. Their phone line gives you one price and then, when you mail it in, they quote you another. 

Panasonic ‘customer service’ is the WORST I think I’ve ever dealt with. It’s unbelievable. I’ll ask you the same thing I asked “Andrew”: Does Panasonic really think that by institutionalizing service THIS BAD that I will EVER buy another Panasonic product again? 

Because I won’t. 

I am DONE with Panasonic. Never again. That company can DIE. I’ll buy another camera but NEVER a Panasonic camera again. Or a DVD. Or ANYTHING. 

Wow. Spectacularly bad 'customer support.’ In the end he put me on perma-mute (You know, where they don’t actually hang up, they just leave the line open until you hang up) for over TWO HOURS AND THIRTY-TWO MINUTES. That’s when I wrote this review and POSTED IT. 

Die Panasonic. Just die. 

PS: As of this posting I’m STILL on perma-mute!