Panasonic Customer Support
 

When I recently called Panasonic to inquire about the GS400, I had to wait nearly 30 minutes to speak with a rude, ill-informed Customer Service rep.

Quite a difference from my experience with Canon Customer Support. I've never had to wait more than one or two minutes and Canon reps have provided consistently helpful and often outstanding service.

Before I spend over a thousand dollars for a GS400, I'd appreciate hearing any positive feedback about Panasonic's Customer Service.

Dorothy

I have had "good" experiences with Panasonic CS, but it was always through email. My questions/issues usually got sent to "the lab", which took some time, but were always answered. Not that this excuses poor CS, but...

You have to remember that Canon's business is huge into imaging/photography/video and has been for a very long time. It's a very important part of their business and is therefore taken very seriously in CS terms. Panasonic is into so many kinds of electronics, that I'm sure they don't make their consumer camera department top priority for CS knowledge.

I'm sure you'd get wonderful CS if you were going thru either companie's Pro divisions.

Jesse,

Thanks so much for your way cool suggestion!

Could you kindly post Panasonic's Pro Vidio Division email address and 800 number.

I'll give 'em a try and see whether they're willing to let me address my GS400 queries to their Pro Division.

If they direct me to Panasonic's Consumer Division, I may have second thoughts about acquiring a GS400, especially after reading this customer's review of Panasonic's "Incredibly shoddy customer service..." on amazon.com:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...onics&n=507846

Thanks, again!

Dorothy

This Panny Pro Video support info...

To contact our Professional Video technical support department, please e-mail pbtscservice@us.panasonic.com, call 800.222.0741, or complete the following form...

was taken from this site page...
http://www.panasonic.com/business/pr...ch_support.asp

...but, because the GS400 is the best model in their Consumer division, I'd doubt if the Pro support staff would even have info/knowledge on it, neverthless be able to provide support on it. I wasn't really suggesting to contact them for GS400 questions. I was just stating that you'd probably get much better CS from Panasonic's pro division in general (you could always buy up to the AG-DVC30). ;)

Mixed feelings
 

My Panasonic customer service story pertains my my 2000-model PV-DV100 Palmcorder, which I bought new in October 2001. In May of this year, colors accuracy suddenly decline drastically, so in July I shipped the camera to Panasonic Factory Service in Elgin, IL and paid a flat $249 + shipping to have the camera serviced. It came back with a "refurbished" warranty of 90 days parts, 30 days service. The problem seemed to be fixed, but not what I was used to with the pro cameras I use for work. I figured I was just spoiled by the pro 3CCD cameras and could live with the PV-DV100 quality. In September, I used the PV-DV100 as a backup camera at a wedding, and the footage was practically black-and-white. The white balance was messed up, and even brightly lit scenes appeared grainy. I called Panasonic, and they agreed to have a second look at the camera, and even paid my return UPS shipping. I was very happy, since nearly 90 days had passed since they last worked on it. A week later, I received the camera from Panasonic, and the invoice said something vague like "cleaned and electronically adjusted. When I popped in a tape and battery, I found that the recorded image went completely black whenever I turned on Electronic Image Stabilization. With EIS off, the image still didn't look any better than when I sent it back the second time. Panasonic agreed to have another look and pay my shipping. I received the camera back yesterday, and the camera seems to be completedly fixed. The invoice said they "replaced the PCB." Indoor and Auto white balance modes worked fine, but I haven't had a chance to test it in daylight; I'll do that today after work.

I don't know what a PCB is, but my LCD and viewfinder now displays WIND-CUT in the lower-right corner, which it never did before. That model camera doesn't even have a wind-cut feature. My menu options are the same. Go figure!

So far, they seem to have solved my problem, but only in a haphazzard way, and after introducing new ones (EIS blacking my screen, WIND-CUT notice for a feature I don't have). I give them credit for the attitude they project. The people I dealt with one the phone were always pleasant and genuinely seemed to want to help. I appreciate the fact that they kept trying, at no additional cost to me. Still, I'm annoyed that I had to pay more than the camera is worth to get it fixed. $50 or $75 per incident would have been more reasonable.

My other camcorder is a DVC80 (out of production), which I love. I'd not hesitate to buy another professional unit.

pcb is printed circuit board... the wind cut might be a new firmware option that is currently turned on?? i would be looking for a way to turn it off, probably in the audio menu.