Panasonic TV Warranty Not Covered

[JuggiDangerous]

Hi,

 

 

I purchased a Panasonic TV in March 2015 with a 6 Year Warranty,

 

 

We decided to move the TV and unplugged the Ethernet plug as I pulled it out the whole Ethernet socket had become detached.

 

 

I did not use any excessive force,

I rang Panasonic who contacted their repair agents the regional repair centre in Birmingham which the engineer said it wont be covered as it was pulled out.

 

I emailed Panasonic who retrieved the report from the engineer which said I had ripped out the Ethernet plug so Panasonic will not repair.

 

I believe The Ethernet port was faulty and should be repaired under Panasonic's warranty I hope someone on this forum can help my predicament.

[BankFodder]

Presumably you bought an extended warranty. Did it not cover for any accidental damage?

 

Have Panasonic or the repair agents carried out an inspection or have they simply come to this conclusion over the telephone?

 

Certainly, if you do not have any cover for accidental damage then you will have to be able to demonstrate in some way that you used ordinary force to remove the plug and that the whole thing came way because it was weak.

 

I think that this means that you will have to get an independent engineer to inspect the set and then to give you a written opinion.

 

If you do this then I can imagine that Panasonic will leap into action and will want to get their own engineer to carry out an inspection so that they can come to an opposite view.

 

However, I think that you will need to get an expert opinion.

 

If you're extended warranty does not cover you for accidental damage, then what on earth are you paying for that gives you better protection then your six-year statutory rights anyway?

[BankFodder]

It would also be extremely useful to get somebody to give a reliable and authoritative estimate as to how much force it would take to pull out the Internet socket.

 

If the opinion was that it wouldn't take much force at all, then this points to a design fault.

 

If the (more likely) opinion is that it would take substantial force – like several kilos – then this would help you if you had to go to court because you could ask the judge whether he really believed that any reasonable person would apply such force to removing an Internet cable.

 

When you say that the socket has been ripped out, has anything actually been torn or broken or is it simply become unsoldered- meaning have you simply broken the soldered joints?

[Conniff]

Any estimate would want more detail than has been given. Was it the body of the socket or the whole lot including the pins ? If the pins as well, then I would say more than normal force was used as the pins are soldered to the pcb.

[JuggiDangerous]

Any estimate would want more detail than has been given. Was it the body of the socket or the whole lot including the pins ? If the pins as well, then I would say more than normal force was used as the pins are soldered to the pcb.

 

Well it was the body of the socket that was loose I've emailed Panasonic and told them I'm not very happy the engineer told me if it was Samsung or LG they would of repaired it no problem, so why are Panasonic being so finicky?

[Conniff]

As asked in #2, has an engineer physically examined it ?

 

I have seen this happen a lot with laptop power sockets, but they are inserted and taken out continually, I take it being ethernet it was plugged in and then not removed until now ?

[JuggiDangerous]

The guys at the repair centre have had a look at it tv was on the wall and wasn't removed till then, so it all depends on there version of force then!

[JuggiDangerous]

Panasonics 6 year guarantee just covers faults and failures no accident cover mentioned.

[JuggiDangerous]

Update I've phoned Panasonic Customer Services today they said they received the engineers reports and pics and agree with the engineer that the Ethernet port was ripped off not good news.

[JuggiDangerous]

ps is this the right area for thread? Thanks

[unclebulgaria67]

Check locally, as in most areas, you can get a local company that offers a cheap repair. It may just need soldering back on and secured.

 

On my Panasonic, the various connections are quite robust but tight.

[JuggiDangerous]

Ok thanks for the input

[ericsbrother]

how much money do you want to throw at your claim? a microscopic study of the solder joints and other physical damage will determine whether it was poorly constructed in the first place but spending hundreds of quid to be told no manufacturing defect would be plain daft so even if you are right i would go for the cheapest option and dont buy one of their sets again. You might want to warn others of the fragility of their product via any consumer review website as well but keep it calm and factual.