How is Panasonic's repair service?

[MultimediaMike]

Please allow me to vent about JVC’S terrible customer service before I ask a question. I am the media director for a not-for-profit. Our GY DV-500 broke down several months back. I packed it, insured it and sent it to a JCV Service Center in Illinois. Several weeks passed and I had not heard from JVC, although I had included my e-mail, postal address, and toll free number. So, I called them and after being switched through a staggering number of people I ended up with voicemail. Days later
when my call was finally returned, I was told they were waiting for approval of a $550 repair. Had they called or e-mailed they would have had immediate approval. (This is the short version; this was much more of a chore). I gave approval on the phone and several weeks later the camera came back with a charge of a little over $900!

To their credit, JVC did resolve the issue but it took a great deal of time and effort on my part. This is a shame because I have always been a fan of their products and in fact have a home full of JVC equipment. My problem now is, I have no faith in their repair and customer service.

We were going to be purchasing a JVC DV300U as a backup. I am not sure I want to do that now. Instead, I am looking at a Panasonic AG-DUX100B. My question is this. Has anyone experienced problems with this camera and what is your take on Panasonic’s repair service?

Thanks so much for your help.

[ROF]

I've dealt with JVC for several years for VCR repairs, stereo component repairs, misc. parts requests and other issues. I never had any problems with their service as you've describe. Of course, I never wait for someone to contact me when I have a customer waiting on a repair. I allow 4-5 business days for shipping and then begin calling the company asking them if they received the product and what it's status is. This has resulted in me always getting timely repairs.

[RDS1955]

I'm not certain if this will give you an answer to your specifi question or not... I had a Panasonic DVD recorder go bad on me (out of warranty).. Checked with their website and they had a list of nearby authorized repair facilities (independent repair shops) where they requested it be taken or sent..Took a little over a month but I got it back and it's doing what it supposed to do, with no problems yet (knock on wood...tap,tap..)

The support section of their website lists all the products they make and a series of clicks will take you to the list of local or nearby (closest) repair facilities they recommend for the particular device you need/want repaired-serviced..Now if they take an RMA'd unit directly back to their hdqtrs repair facility, I couldn't answer, but I would suspect that if it's new and undr warranty they would do so..