Panasonic PV-GS120 Camcorder - HORRENDOUS Customer Service, BAD FAITH Violation

Panasonic PV-GS120 Camcorder - HORRENDOUS Customer Service, BAD FAITH Violation

Panasonic PV-GS120 Camcorder - HORRENDOUS Customer Service, BAD FAITH Violation

On May 1st, I purchased the PV-GS120 camcorder from Amazon via J&R Music and Computer World for my girlfriend's birthday on May 30th. The camera sat in my desk until I wrapped it a few days prior. I then gave the camera to my girlfriend a couple of days early, so that we could film our trip to Big Bear. Everything appeared to work fine, and my girlfriend recorded several tapes worth of material before finally deciding to transfer the material to the computer. I bought a firewire cable, followed the very brief instructions in a manual with scores of pages on the digital camera feature of the camcorder, and lo and behold, I was unable to get the video to transfer. I tried using Adobe Premiere Pro, Avid, Windows Movie Maker, and Pinnacle Studio, and none of the programs recognized the camera, which never appeared in Device Manager in the first place. I bought a different cable, with the same results. So I bought a capture card; nothing. I then took the camera and cables to the Apple store, and the Apple Geniuses were unable to get the Macs in the store to recognize the camera. Finally, I took the camera to work, where I enlisted several of my coworkers to help me try and transfer video via firewire, all to no avail. I wrote Panasonic via their website in mid June, which provided no number to reach technical support. They didn't respond to the form that I filled out. My girlfriend then wrote them, and they responded to her with a form e-mail three weeks later stating that the appropriate department would contact her. Nobody ever contacted her. She then called Panasonic, but was forced to wait on hold for so long that she had to hang up and return to work. Finally, in mid-August, she was able to reach customer support, who told her that she was contacting the wrong department, and they took her information and told her that someone would contact her. A manager contacted her, and said that he'd send her a form to fill out to evaluate the nature of the problem. After months of Panasonic dragging this out, I finally called a number listed on a new page on their website today, October 4th. I sat on hold for 42 minutes before speaking to someone. The customer service representative that I spoke to walked through the process of hooking the camera up to the firewire port, resetting the camera, going through menu options, and so forth. Finally, when she realized that none of these options were working, she put me on hold for about 5 minutes, and when she returned she told me to contact the firewire manufacturer, because Panasonic doesn't support the firewire feature. After going back and forth with her for a couple more minutes, I asked her to escalate my call to the next tier of customer support. I was then placed on hold for about 10 minutes, and I was transferred to another representative who told me that I could send the camcorder to their service center in Illinois, but that the camcorder was no longer under the 90 day warranty, and that I'd be liable labor to fix the camera. At this point, I needed to return to work; however, prior to resuming my project at work, I registered the domain www.panasonichorrorstories.com. It turns out that there are whole sites that are almost entirely devoted to Panasonic's shoddy customer service, as well as some of their activities which have spun off class action lawsuits. Their customer service is unhelpful at best, and mostly unavailable. I don't deny that the camcorder may be great, IF an owner can get it to work in the first place. Other than the firewire problem, the camera seems to work fine. But what's the point of capturing video if it's stuck on tapes? I HIGHLY recommend against EVER purchasing ANYTHING FROM PANASONIC, because if you even purchase a product, you have no recourse when it doesn't work. They won't replace your product, they certainly won't refund your money, and they'll make certain that you have to wait so long while any claim works its way through their endless obstacles that you ever give up, or your product is no longer under warranty. -Ryan C

Ryan C

Click this link to e-mail the above consumer: //

Comment On This

I couldn't agree more. I live in Spain and bought a plasma TV for over 2000Euros. When I saw the guarantee was only for a year I went online to extend the guarantee. My model THPV60E was not there. When I rang they said if the model was not there Icouldn not extend the guarantee. What's more, you can only extend guarantees on line. So, do Panasonic have so little faith in the quality of their Plasma TV model number THPV60E or are they just horrendous at customer service? Also, what if my gran bought one - she does not use the internet so it is very shortsighted of Panasonic - and horrendous customer service - to just extend guarantees online. I will NEVER buy a Panasonic product again. By the way - Philips were great when I had to contact them about a telephone I bought and needed to configure.....