I recently bought LCD projector costing over $1500. After only a few months it began to shut off after a few minutes of running. Called the 800 number given with the product to inquire about the issue and it took no less than 30 minutes and several transfers to find the right department to even discuss the problem. The technical support department immediately pushed the issue off to the service repair company (only ONE authorized facility in the US) who informed me that they could fix the issue (faulty iris component) but I would have to pay to have it shipped in for repairs. After paying $25 to ship the item and waiting 10 days to get it back, the projector shut down after about 10 minutes of running (this time, the cooling fan stopped turning).

I called the number provided on the return packing slip and got an automated operator which kept asking me which product I wanted to buy. By the time I finally got a live person, he didn't understand English and sent me back to the automated system. The third time I called I eventually got to another live operator who sent me to the Microwave division. Never mind that I had told him we had a problem with our PROJECTOR.

To each operator and to the automated system, I had to give my name and Model number of the product and I was still shuffled around until the Microwave technical support gave me a new number to call, which was for Projector support. Of course, the projector support person immediately said "Sorry, I can't help you, it's a service issue, and they are already closed today, so call back tomorrow or another business day" (Doesn't he know that Wednesday comes before Thursday and Friday. Who do they employ anyway?).

If it hadn't taken me an hour of calling in to the main Panasonic Customer NON service department and getting the run-around, I might have been lucky enough to talk to the service company before they closed. Now I get to call the main number back tomorrow and if I am lucky get to the service department so they can tell me to ship it back at my expense so they can keep me from watching TV for the next 10 -14 days.

I will NEVER buy another Panasonic product and I do not recommend any to friends, colleagues, or even my enemies. I am sure that not all their products are this bad, but if there is a problem of any kind you cannot get help with it.