Traumatic Experience with Panasonic QC and After Sales

[sanveer]

 

I have owned a few Panasonic ILCs until now (the GH2, the GH3 and the GH4 briefly). I really enjoyed using all of them. I bought all of them from my local dealer in Bombay, India, and never once had an issues with any of them. Never.

I was supposed to head to Europe at the end of last year, but the plan was shelved, and, sometime mid last year, I was without a camera. My sister happened to be in Australia in August, and I asked her to pick up a Panasonic GX85 from Australia (from Diamonds Camera Adelaide). That was a HUGE mistake. While I have bought a plethora of stuff from B&H, I have never really bought anything from Australia before.

I got the camera to India, and there were strange vertical likes (purple and pink), across the screen and viewfinder. I took it to the local service centre at New Delhi, and they didn’t even know Panasonic has a GX85 model. When I told the service centre guys, that I suspected an issue with the sensor, he claimed it was not due to the CCD sensor, but due to some circuity issues with the LCD (completely ignoring my pointing out that viewfinder also had the same issue). I got the hint that he didn’t know anything about cameras when he felt a DSLR would have a CCD sensor. Plus they didn’t spare parts, and said the whole process would take months to fix.

I then, obviously had to send it back to Adelaide all the way from New Delhi, only because the Service Centre in India was ill-equipped to handle any issues with Panasonic ILCs here (most model aren’t introduced, and the ones which are … well, their owners pray to God that they never have an issues). I wanted Diamonds Camera to change the camera with a new one, but they got it serviced instead. I got it back to India, and now, while the curious sensor issue has gone (they apparently changed the sensor itself), the camera is unable to focus at anything beyond 2 metres. Basically its like a Dud Camera. And, the service centre most likely screwed up with the sensor installation. Or the focusing needs calibration.

I have owned many pieces of equipment before, but, this must be the very first time I owned a camera for 6 months, where for the majority of the period of those 6 months it didn’t work. And, to think of it, I was planning to pick up 2 Panasonic GH5s for my future work.

I don’t know how Panasonic can have such lousy Quality Control, and even worse after sales. Maybe that is why almost Nobody in India uses a Panasonic. Almost everyone uses a Canon, Nikon or more recently Sony. First, most of their models never get introduced here. And the ones that are, mysteriously, cannot be serviced.

In all fairness to Diamonds Cameras, they have asked me to send it back to Australia, for replacement with a new camera, and they have also been gracious enough to say that they will cover the to and fro expenses of the international courier. The only issue is now that I have had such a terrible experience with Panasonic, that I almost certain I won’t be touching another Panasonic Camera with a 10 foot barge pole. Also, that the International Courier will keep the camera in transit for atleast 4 weeks, if not longer.
 

[jonpais]

2 hours ago, sanveer said:

 

I have owned a few Panasonic ILCs until now (the GH2, the GH3 and the GH4 briefly). I really enjoyed using all of them. I bought all of them from my local dealer in Bombay, India, and never once had an issues with any of them. Never.

I was supposed to head to Europe at the end of last year, but the plan was shelved, and, sometime mid last year, I was without a camera. My sister happened to be in Australia in August, and I asked her to pick up a Panasonic GX85 from Australia (from Diamonds Camera Adelaide). That was a HUGE mistake. While I have bought a plethora of stuff from B&H, I have never really bought anything from Australia before.

I got the camera to India, and there were strange vertical likes (purple and pink), across the screen and viewfinder. I took it to the local service centre at New Delhi, and they didn’t even know Panasonic has a GX85 model. When I told the service centre guys, that I suspected an issue with the sensor, he claimed it was not due to the CCD sensor, but due to some circuity issues with the LCD (completely ignoring my pointing out that viewfinder also had the same issue). I got the hint that he didn’t know anything about cameras when he felt a DSLR would have a CCD sensor. Plus they didn’t spare parts, and said the whole process would take months to fix.

I then, obviously had to send it back to Adelaide all the way from New Delhi, only because the Service Centre in India was ill-equipped to handle any issues with Panasonic ILCs here (most model aren’t introduced, and the ones which are … well, their owners pray to God that they never have an issues). I wanted Diamonds Camera to change the camera with a new one, but they got it serviced instead. I got it back to India, and now, while the curious sensor issue has gone (they apparently changed the sensor itself), the camera is unable to focus at anything beyond 2 metres. Basically its like a Dud Camera. And, the service centre most likely screwed up with the sensor installation. Or the focusing needs calibration.

I have owned many pieces of equipment before, but, this must be the very first time I owned a camera for 6 months, where for the majority of the period of those 6 months it didn’t work. And, to think of it, I was planning to pick up 2 Panasonic GH5s for my future work.

I don’t know how Panasonic can have such lousy Quality Control, and even worse after sales. Maybe that is why almost Nobody in India uses a Panasonic. Almost everyone uses a Canon, Nikon or more recently Sony. First, most of their models never get introduced here. And the ones that are, mysteriously, cannot be serviced.

In all fairness to Diamonds Cameras, they have asked me to send it back to Australia, for replacement with a new camera, and they have also been gracious enough to say that they will cover the to and fro expenses of the international courier. The only issue is now that I have had such a terrible experience with Panasonic, that I almost certain I won’t be touching another Panasonic Camera with a 10 foot barge pole. Also, that the International Courier will keep the camera in transit for atleast 4 weeks, if not longer.
 

First, sorry to hear this. Panasonic customer care in Vietnam is just as bad, if not worse. 

[ntblowz]

Moral of the story is buy locally?

Panasonic and Olympus service in NZ is not bad, (I sent gh4 in for ripped micro hdmi connector and got it back in reasonable time), I have a send a few Olympus cameras and got back in a week, sure they are more expensive but you get peace of mind and quick turnaround compare to sending to overseas.

[jonpais]

3 hours ago, ntblowz said:

Moral of the story is buy locally?

Panasonic and Olympus service in NZ is not bad, (I sent gh4 in for ripped micro hdmi connector and got it back in reasonable time), I have a send a few Olympus cameras and got back in a week, sure they are more expensive but you get peace of mind and quick turnaround compare to sending to overseas.

Probably a good idea, whenever possible. But I bought my GH4 here and still the local Panasonic service is sub-par. 

[sanveer]

12 hours ago, jonpais said:

First, sorry to hear this. Panasonic customer care in Vietnam is just as bad, if not worse. 

Its really sad to hear this. Especially when Panasonic now have Global Warranties on their products. And, even 3 year warranties in certain jurisdictions.

 

11 hours ago, ntblowz said:

Moral of the story is buy locally?

Panasonic and Olympus service in NZ is not bad, (I sent gh4 in for ripped micro hdmi connector and got it back in reasonable time), I have a send a few Olympus cameras and got back in a week, sure they are more expensive but you get peace of mind and quick turnaround compare to sending to overseas.

I would buy locally, but the GX85 was NOT available locally in Mid of Last Year (August 2016), in India. Even now, it is solely available with Amazon, as an Import, and there appears to be no mention of the warranty anywhere. 

I am suspecting even the GH5 won't be introduced here. Or if it is, it will be priced around the professional Canon and Nikon camera price range, and thus be avoided by a lot of Indie Filmmakers.

Panasonic in many countries in the world needs a serious makeover. Like they need to retrench entire departments, or completely shut shot and start again. Like someone mentioned in another thread, they are surviving purely on washing machines and ACs. They really don't have the professionalism or standard of service that they have in Japan or the United States. In many other countries they are like sweat shops. This applies to their after sales, as well as their marketing department. 

It is extremely unfortunate, because their products are extremely good for the price. 

 

[zerocool22]

I dropped my GH3 once, and the plastic hinge from the LCD was broken. And Panasonic repaired it for free(Belgium). So in my experience it was the best customer service ever. 

[Eric Calabros]

Apparently customer support budget is mostly concentrated on few markets where they feel they have more chance to grab market share, like Europe.

[Arikhan]

@Eric Calabros

Quote

Apparently customer support budget is mostly concentrated on few markets where they feel they have more chance to grab market share, like Europe.

Probably you are right. BUT manufacturers currently know, that a substantial marketing budget (spreading lies with the help of "enthusiasts" and not very well paid henchmen) is much more important than a serious customer support budget. Electronics / imaging are for many people a disposable. Buggy? Broken? Just buy another one or wait for a slightly improved model...Selling cameras and gear generates profit, serious customer support only costs money...

[Andrew Reid]

Was the service centre in India an authorised Panasonic one?

Doesn't sound like it.

Sorry you had such bad luck with the faulty unit!

1 hour ago, Arikhan said:

@Eric Calabros

Probably you are right. BUT manufacturers currently know, that a substantial marketing budget (spreading lies with the help of "enthusiasts" and not very well paid henchmen) is much more important than a serious customer support budget. Electronics / imaging are for many people a disposable. Buggy? Broken? Just buy another one or wait for a slightly improved model...Selling cameras and gear generates profit, serious customer support only costs money...

Arikhan

You don't have the figures to hand on what Panasonic spends on marketing and what they spend on support. None of us do. So you're speculating.

There are always going to be parts of the world that don't have perfect service coverage. Same is true for every single camera manufacturer even Arri.

[sanveer]

6 hours ago, Andrew Reid said:

Was the service centre in India an authorised Panasonic one?

Doesn't sound like it.

Sorry you had such bad luck with the faulty unit!

Arikhan

You don't have the figures to hand on what Panasonic spends on marketing and what they spend on support. None of us do. So you're speculating.

There are always going to be parts of the world that don't have perfect service coverage. Same is true for every single camera manufacturer even Arri.

Yes, Andrew, it is an authorized service centre (it is at Lajpat Nagar, and it even turns up in the Google searches. I mailed to them too (http://www.panasonic.com/in/support/contact-us.html), and a guy now claims it is an AC (Air Conditioner), when I Clearly shared by Purchased Receipts and the International Warranty for the Camera. He also claims, that, the Warranty is not valid in India, for the, ahem, AC (when the Warranty for Camera CLEARLY mentions India). 

It's like Panasonic India is a complete mess. I doubt whether Anyone has Any idea here about cameras.

I wonder if anyone could share information on Panasonic Japan or Panasonic United States. I could tell them about the shocking state of affairs here. 

8 hours ago, Eric Calabros said:

Apparently customer support budget is mostly concentrated on few markets where they feel they have more chance to grab market share, like Europe.

It's true. Which is a poor analysis on Panasonic's part. The number of DSLRs I see on the streets nowadays is insane. Even kids as old as 12 and 14 seem to be having one.