First 2018 Panasonic OLEDs in the country!

AlanX

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I've just spent a very useful couple of hours with a very knowledgeable Panasonic tech rep who was demo'ing the 55FZ802 and 55FZ952 at the Panasonic Store in the Arcade off Churchill Square in Brighton. Adam (the rep) said they were the only store with these new models being demonstrated at this time.
Adam is there for just the rest of today (Fri), but the TVs will be on show tomorrow (Sat) as well, before being moved on.
Would have liked to have seen the 65s as well, but this is as good as it gets for the moment. Still mid-June for general availability. There is an offer of a free UB320 for pre-orders over the weekend, but the TV prices are still full list, of course.
Panasonic Store Brighton
 
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I've just spent a very useful couple of hours with a very knowledgeable Panasonic tech rep who was demo'ing the 55FZ802 and 55FZ932 at the Panasonic Store in the Arcade off Churchill Square in Brighton. Adam (the rep) said they were the only store with these new models being demonstrated at this time.
Adam is there for just the rest of today (Fri), but the TVs will be on show tomorrow (Sat) as well, before being moved on.
Would have liked to have seen the 65s as well, but this is as good as it gets for the moment. Still mid-June for general availability. There is an offer of a free UB320 for pre-orders over the weekend, but the TV prices are still full list, of course.
Panasonic Store Brighton
What was your impression mate, you must be the first member to witness the demo of Pana 2018 OLEDs. I like to see FZ802 in the flesh. If they just had DV then it would sell like hot carrots.
 
Very impressed, I have to say. And it even looked a good cut above the 55EZ952 which was running in the same picture mode and settings alongside it. If you're anywhere near Brighton you could go there tomorrow, or find out from Panasonic where their demo TVs are going to next.
I've been dithering between LG with DV and Panasonic with HDR10+. Agreed it would be a no-brainer if the Panasonics had DV as well. But I think I've finally decided to stop pursuing DV, and will probably pair the FZ802 with the UB420. Just got to wait now for a good AVF review and a significant price drop!
 
They are at the Panasonic store in Glenfield Leicester 1 June 16-19.00 2 June 09.00 - 17.00
 
I would have thought it is Panasonic's fairly horrendous reputation for (non existent) customer service and lengthy, lengthy delays to essential firmware updates that's putting most people off, not the lack of Dolby Vision!

After reading through so many different user reports of motion issues with their last OLED that took nearly a year to (partially) fix, alongside countless examples of their support team denying all knowledge of any problems, I for one will be giving these sets an incredibly wide berth, and would suggest everyone do the same.
 
I would have thought it is Panasonic's fairly horrendous reputation for (non existent) customer service and lengthy, lengthy delays to essential firmware updates that's putting most people off, not the lack of Dolby Vision!

After reading through so many different user reports of motion issues with their last OLED that took nearly a year to (partially) fix, alongside countless examples of their support team denying all knowledge of any problems, I for one will be giving these sets an incredibly wide berth, and would suggest everyone do the same.


Some people do post utter rubbish.....
 
I'm looking forward to see the new Panasonic oleds. The past few months I've been comparing oleds from all the manufacturers and Panasonic still come out tops for picture quality and colour saturation.

To my eyes anyway.
 
Some people do post utter rubbish.....

Excuse me?

I've had the misfortune of being on the recieving end of their customer service, and it was horrendous. My experience is echoed throughout this forum, if you have any inclination to read through the dx902 and ez952 threads. Littered with people who will never buy a Panasonic TV again, and for good reason.

The dx902 didn't receive a firmware update for a lengthy period of time, despite the multiple (and ongoing) issues which have an entire thread devoted to them.

The ez952, it's stuttering problem, and the ridiculous amount of time it took to fix is very well documented and speaks volumes for Panasonic's approach to their customers paying >£2000 for a high end TV.

So if you would kindly bother to include some form of reasoned counter-claim underlying your basis for an insulting post next time I'd be very grateful....
 
The ez952, its stuttering problem
If that was this TVs only real problem then it's actually great isn't it? :) Meanwhile LG had white line, white flash, audio sync, broken YouTube HDR, raised blacks etc problems and Sony even bricked many TVs with their update lately, took more than a year to release a promised feature and it's not even working properly.

Let's just say that all of these manufacturers have their problems, you will always hear about bad CS stories so based on reading forums you can cross every manufacturer from your list and never buy anything again
 
Some people do post utter rubbish.....
Actually, what he says is completely accurate. It is widely agreed, especially in the past year, that Panasonic customer services and support are the worst of the major manufacturers. This has been proven by their lack of acceptance to address a major bug with TVs which use the HCX2 processor.

Prior to the 2017 models, Panasonic have always had a reputation of never acknowledging faults with their sets. It's either a cultural thing, or a legal stance. But whichever way you slice it Panasonic's attitude to customer service, and particularly support, is definitely lacking.
 
Again..rubbish .... "widely agreed" is a meaningless phrase usually based on forums where people like to moan. 12 years of many Panasonic products have all had timely updates and improvements .. the UB900 is a good example. The only time I had a problem was the infamous purple snakes on a plasma a few years back. Panasonic picked it up ...changed the offending board and had it back the same day. I buy products expecting at most a 2 year support but that's what extended warranties are for. Consumer law covers aswell. If your product doesn't work send it back. This major bug is a matter of opinion based on how you use the set... not everybody is moaning.... We can all manipulate statistics.
 
Hmmm, OK. Were you aware of the long standing issue with the HCX2 processor? A few HUNDRED people on this forum signed a petition, in order that Panasonic would at least acknowledge the bug? I'd say that was a fairly 'wide' cross section. I've also been a Panasonic consumer since 2006, when I bought my first 42inch plasma. I've never had to call on their support before I purchased the EZ, but this year I have and it's been absolutely atrocious. So I speak from my experience, and the experience of in excess of 200 other members of this forum that lost all faith and had to end up signing the petition as a last resort. That shouldn't have to happen and it's unacceptable to many.

So, I'd argue that it's not rubbish, and that 'widely agreed' was an appropriate term to use. Let's stick to the facts rather than deviate into sniping at terminology, you say Panasonic's customer service and support is first rate, I say otherwise. We disagree based on experience.

Regarding consumer laws and the responsibility of both the retailer and the manufacturer, I know exactly how it all works and I know what I'm planning to do regarding my faulty set (which, incidentally has been acknowledged by both Panasonic and the retailer as having a fault). However, I'm biding my time and being patient, I'm keeping my eye on the 2018 OLED sets to see if they suffer from the same issue as the 2017 models.
 
Am I completely misunderstanding the relationships between purchaser, retailer and manufacturer? I thought, when I made my purchase, that my 'contract' was between me and the retailer, not between me and the manufacturer. If I have a problem in the first 'guarantee' year I surely go back to the retailer, who passes me to the manufacturer for a fix. However, if that fix is not forthcoming, don't I just throw the offending item back at the retailer and demand a refund (going to court if necessary)? After the first year the whole warranty thing is with the retailer anyway if offered, and the manufacturer is arguably out of the frame.
Perhaps I'm out of step with the real world on this, but then I'm one of the lucky ones who's never had to make a first year claim. However, a fourth year claim on an RS purchase was met with courtesy and competence, and the issue was resolved with their own engineers in a couple of weeks.
So I'm not sure what is more important when it comes to customer service - the reputation of the manufacturer or that of the retailer.
Perhaps I need to bone up on consumer protection legislation.
 
I think what you've said is essentially correct. However, some retailers are far better at keeping their part of the bargain than others. It's widely believed (!!!) that RS excel in this area, and I believe it's one of the reasons they're doing so well in a tough environment.
 
Hmmm, OK. Were you aware of the long standing issue with the HCX2 processor? A few HUNDRED people on this forum signed a petition, in order that Panasonic would at least acknowledge the bug? I'd say that was a fairly 'wide' cross section. I've also been a Panasonic consumer since 2006, when I bought my first 42inch plasma. I've never had to call on their support before I purchased the EZ, but this year I have and it's been absolutely atrocious. So I speak from my experience, and the experience of in excess of 200 other members of this forum that lost all faith and had to end up signing the petition as a last resort. That shouldn't have to happen and it's unacceptable to many.

So, I'd argue that it's not rubbish, and that 'widely agreed' was an appropriate term to use. Let's stick to the facts rather than deviate into sniping at terminology, you say Panasonic's customer service and support is first rate, I say otherwise. We disagree based on experience.

Regarding consumer laws and the responsibility of both the retailer and the manufacturer, I know exactly how it all works and I know what I'm planning to do regarding my faulty set (which, incidentally has been acknowledged by both Panasonic and the retailer as having a fault). However, I'm biding my time and being patient, I'm keeping my eye on the 2018 OLED sets to see if they suffer from the same issue as the 2017 models.

To be honest, I am more with @casjen on this. The @davejones2 post was a bit of an OTT rant. Yes, Panasonic have issues, but compared to who? As has been said, other manufacturers forums are littered with similar or other issues and experiences, which for many people are worse issues, so singling out Panasonic, that have at least gone a decent way into resolving the issue at hand finally, and advising people to go elsewhere to have similar or worse problems is not good advice. Also you continually post on this subject, so we know its a very large issue for you, but trying to attribute reasons or levels of discontent from 200+ other users, is not fact. I certainly didn't lose all faith and had to sign a petition as a last resort. I respected the initiative, and signed up because it was way to add my support to a real issue. Likewise I don't believe a few hundred of us have experienced the poor support you have alluded to, and considering the poor support cited is attributed to the 'stutter bug' it's pretty unreasonable to tarnish the entire support operation around one issue, that was clearly a struggle for them to effectively deal with quickly, and no doubt restricted by legal liability. I don't know many people that have returned their TVs, which surely would be the case if it was indeed 'unacceptable' to us all as you suggest.

By all means post on your own experiences and beliefs, but if you want to be factual, you are not speaking for me, as one of the hundreds you mention, that finds the situation so 'unacceptable' I bought a second set this weekend.
 
To be honest, I am more with @casjen on this. The @davejones2 post was a bit of an OTT rant. Yes, Panasonic have issues, but compared to who? As has been said, other manufacturers forums are littered with similar or other issues and experiences, which for many people are worse issues, so singling out Panasonic, that have at least gone a decent way into resolving the issue at hand finally, and advising people to go elsewhere to have similar or worse problems is not good advice. Also you continually post on this subject, so we know its a very large issue for you, but trying to attribute reasons or levels of discontent from 200+ other users, is not fact. I certainly didn't lose all faith and had to sign a petition as a last resort. I respected the initiative, and signed up because it was way to add my support to a real issue. Likewise I don't believe a few hundred of us have experienced the poor support you have alluded to, and considering the poor support cited is attributed to the 'stutter bug' it's pretty unreasonable to tarnish the entire support operation around one issue, that was clearly a struggle for them to effectively deal with quickly, and no doubt restricted by legal liability. I don't know many people that have returned their TVs, which surely would be the case if it was indeed 'unacceptable' to us all as you suggest.

By all means post on your own experiences and beliefs, but if you want to be factual, you are not speaking for me, as one of the hundreds you mention, that finds the situation so 'unacceptable' I bought a second set this weekend.
I accept your point of view, and I think it's a valuable one. Don't get me wrong, the set is very good, the best of the bunch which is why I've kept it over the E6 and the POS9002 that I've owned. But my feeling is that the ongoing support and communication from Panasonic has been less than we should all expect. And I know that I speak on behalf of many people (not all as you've pointed out) because it's still a hot topic, it comes up most weeks on the EZ thread, it's even come up a few times today.

I waded into this thread because I saw someone refer to a post that I happened to agree strongly with as "utter rubbinsh". That's the point of these forums, we discuss, agree and disagree in a dignified manner to, amongst other things, offer those on the fence a chance to consider the views of those with the experience. It's good and healthy and I know that I have certainly benefitted hugely from the input of others when I've needed to draw upon it in the past.

It's also important that both the positive AND negative points of view are aired so that the manufacturers can get a glimpse of the general consensus amongst their consumer base. Realistically it's all about the bottom line for them, however I'd like to think that we, as a community, have some bearing on the decisions that they make.

So, respectfully, I appreciate your points, I happen to agree in part with some of them but I stand by what I've already posted.
 
Panasonic customer services and support are the worst of the major manufacturers

I had a Panasonic Plasma Tv with a Free 5y Panasonic warranty. The TV developed a fault after 14 months, Panasonic sent the repair agent (Martin Dawes) actually nobody came I was told by Martin Dawes I had to take a picture of the fault. After I sent the pic the Tv was uplifted by martin Dawes and returned fixed (or so I thought) 10 days later. It becomes a long saga from then on but what it boiled done to was Martin Dawes cut a speaker cable, scratched the screen and broke the packing for the set. Panasonic will not take any responsibility for the cut speaker cable, scratched screen and broken packing 'cos the Warrenty only covers manufacturing faults all Panasonic will do is expect the repair agent to put damage done by the repair agent right but there is no Panasonic warranty on the work done to rectify the damage to the Tv by the repair agent. So I found Panasonic to be shall we say less than I had hoped for for warranty service.
 
No offence guys but is the title of this thread is : “can we trust pana customer service again?” Or to talk about latest oled. No manufacturer is clean, none !!!
Sony won the worse palm for me with DV debacles but who cares.

I am very interested to hear about the good and bad experience but not in a loop. No Offence to anybody but we get the message and we are old enough to make our own decisions.

This year oled are interesting despite no dv and hope pana refined enough the product. We can only hope

Would love to hear more from people that seen it and tested it. So far, hdtvpolska and a French site published reviews.
 
The French website. I don’t rate them like hdtvpolska which are top. Still...
Google Translate
 
Looks like the new models are brighter than the 2017 models, which is a good thing, HDTVpolska does not mention stuttering so don't know about that, lag is slightly better although was completely ok already on 2017 models. Only real problems with the 2017 models are they still have some stuttering and could be a bit brighter (less ABL). Looks like the 2018 models may fix those things.
 

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