Faulty TV only 6 months old

DaveW007

Just before last Christmas I purchased a Panasonic 42" G10 Plasma TV along with a Blu-ray player and some other Panasonic goodies from Comet in Bridgend.

The TV has been fantastic up until recently when I have noticed that the picture isn't as good as it has been!

There is now noticeable banding rather than shades blended together to produce a smooth colour.

This isn't something which appears to be intermittent and more noticeable when dark and light colours are on screen at the same time.

I would have expected a tv costing almost £1000.00 to last well over 6 months.

My previous tv (also Panasonic) was still going strong after 12 years and I gave it away to make room for the new one.

I understand from reading several tv & video magazine reviews that quite a lot of them suffer with this which I wasn't aware of at the time of purchase.

I have contacted Comet who have advised that they will send an engineer to repair it.

Obviously had I known of this fault at the time of purchase I would have bought a different model.

As it appears this is an inherent fault can I request or demand a replacement?

somethingcorporate

DaveW007 wrote: »

As it appears this is an inherent fault can I request or demand a replacement?

You can request one, but chances are they will just repair it.

william_100

Hi
I believe this would come under the sale of goods at see below:
Durability

Durability is another recent addition to the definition of quality. How long should a dishwasher or a vacuum cleaner or a printer last? This is a very common source of complaint and one which manufacturers were always quick to turn back on the consumer, requiring them to provide proof that the item did not conform to contract specification from the start, or implying an element of misuse or neglect. Thanks to the new European Regulations, UK law now offers greater protection for consumers against products which develop faults within the first 6 months. The assumption is now that if it breaks down within this time period it cannot have conformed to the contract specification when purchased and you have the right to an automatic repair or replacement. Having said this, items which should last several years can still break down after this six month period. If the retailer or manufacturer’s warranty has run out, the shop is often quick to say there is nothing they can do before attempting to sell you an extended warranty. This is misleading. If you buy something which should last 7 years but breaks down after a year and a day, you can still claim it was of poor quality in reference to the durability aspect. In this respect it will help to know how long items such as washing machines or printers should last. You can get this information relevant trade association


and if you paid by credit card you take it up with the under section 75 of the credit act. This is because the acts determine the credit card company to have 'shared liability'




I hope this helps

moonrakerz

william_100 wrote: »

I believe this would come under the sale of goods at see below:
Durability

Thanks to the new European Regulations, UK law now offers greater protection for consumers against products which develop faults within the first 6 months.

If you buy something which should last 7 years but breaks down after a year and a day, you can still claim it was of poor quality in reference to the durability aspect.

AAARRRRGGGHHHH !

Yet another misleading, grossly simplistic reply !

"should last 7 years" - Gosh ! missed that bit.

Dave,

read this,

http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/+/berr.gov.uk/whatwedo/consumers/fact-sheets/page38311.html

Read it again and understand it, and draw your own conclusions. You will note it doesn't mention ANY EU "regulations" since it is the Sale of Goods Act that counts in the UK - NOT the EU.

Comet_company_representative

DaveW007 wrote: »

Just before last Christmas I purchased a Panasonic 42" G10 Plasma TV along with a Blu-ray player and some other Panasonic goodies from Comet in Bridgend.

The TV has been fantastic up until recently when I have noticed that the picture isn't as good as it has been!

There is now noticeable banding rather than shades blended together to produce a smooth colour.

This isn't something which appears to be intermittent and more noticeable when dark and light colours are on screen at the same time.

I would have expected a tv costing almost £1000.00 to last well over 6 months.

My previous tv (also Panasonic) was still going strong after 12 years and I gave it away to make room for the new one.

I understand from reading several tv & video magazine reviews that quite a lot of them suffer with this which I wasn't aware of at the time of purchase.

I have contacted Comet who have advised that they will send an engineer to repair it.

Obviously had I known of this fault at the time of purchase I would have bought a different model.

As it appears this is an inherent fault can I request or demand a replacement?

Hi DaveW007,


My name is Andy and I’m from Comet.

I was sorry to note the problems that you have been experiencing with your TV.

I have spoken to Panasonic directly to determine if there are any known faults with this model. They advised that there are no known defects with this range of television, therefore, we would need to arrange for yours to be inspected so that we can determine what the problems actually are. We will of course attempt to do this as quickly as possible so as not to inconvenience you further. Upon inspection if there is evidence that contradicts the above, and it is found to have a manufacturing defect then of course this will be taken into consideration when a decision is made on how to proceed.

I would therefore, respectfully suggest that you contact our service department to arrange an inspection, and would you also please email me on the following link, with your job numbers etc, putting for the attention of Andrew so that I can continue to monitor the situation.

https://comet.custhelp.com

You will need to register a few details with us in order to be able to send your e-mail in.

Regards,

Andy

miniemma

Have you made sure all your cables are plugged in securely?

Do you have the same trouble on all inputs? ie. HDMI and Scart and whatever else you may have plugged in?

Sorry if this is staing the obvious but I only ask because we had a lot of TV trouble, similar to yours, and thought it was a problem with the HDMI socket on our TV. We had a TV replaced with a different make only to find it was the Sky box causing the problem after all

DaveW007

miniemma wrote: »

Have you made sure all your cables are plugged in securely?

Do you have the same trouble on all inputs? ie. HDMI and Scart and whatever else you may have plugged in?

Sorry if this is staing the obvious but I only ask because we had a lot of TV trouble, similar to yours, and thought it was a problem with the HDMI socket on our TV. We had a TV replaced with a different make only to find it was the Sky box causing the problem after all

All leads are plugged in securely. This was the first thing I checked. Problem is also on normal tv (not through Sky box) too.

DaveW007

Comet_company_representative wrote: »

Hi DaveW007,


My name is Andy and I’m from Comet.

I was sorry to note the problems that you have been experiencing with your TV.

I have spoken to Panasonic directly to determine if there are any known faults with this model. They advised that there are no known defects with this range of television, therefore, we would need to arrange for yours to be inspected so that we can determine what the problems actually are. We will of course attempt to do this as quickly as possible so as not to inconvenience you further. Upon inspection if there is evidence that contradicts the above, and it is found to have a manufacturing defect then of course this will be taken into consideration when a decision is made on how to proceed.

I would therefore, respectfully suggest that you contact our service department to arrange an inspection, and would you also please email me on the following link, with your job numbers etc, putting for the attention of Andrew so that I can continue to monitor the situation.

https://comet.custhelp.com

You will need to register a few details with us in order to be able to send your e-mail in.

Regards,

Andy

Hi Andy

Panasonic also told me the same that there is no known issue!! There are plenty of articles about the banding issue on G10's on the internet though!!!

I've emailed Comet HQ and just had a call back. An engineer will be calling on Monday to assess and report back then.

Thanks for your assistance.

Dave

Googlewhacker

william_100 wrote: »

Hi
I believe this would come under the sale of goods at see below:
Durability

Durability is another recent addition to the definition of quality. How long should a dishwasher or a vacuum cleaner or a printer last? This is a very common source of complaint and one which manufacturers were always quick to turn back on the consumer, requiring them to provide proof that the item did not conform to contract specification from the start, or implying an element of misuse or neglect. Thanks to the new European Regulations, UK law now offers greater protection for consumers against products which develop faults within the first 6 months. The assumption is now that if it breaks down within this time period it cannot have conformed to the contract specification when purchased and you have the right to an automatic repair or replacement. Having said this, items which should last several years can still break down after this six month period. If the retailer or manufacturer’s warranty has run out, the shop is often quick to say there is nothing they can do before attempting to sell you an extended warranty. This is misleading. If you buy something which should last 7 years but breaks down after a year and a day, you can still claim it was of poor quality in reference to the durability aspect. In this respect it will help to know how long items such as washing machines or printers should last. You can get this information relevant trade association


and if you paid by credit card you take it up with the under section 75 of the credit act. This is because the acts determine the credit card company to have 'shared liability'




I hope this helps

THE SECRET LAWWWWWWW........NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

Read up on the SOGA, it is superior and actually law where as the directive is surprisingly just a directive and needs to be taken up by the laws of this land!

vyle

Isn't there that class action lawsuit going on in america right now about the diminishing black levels on last year's range?

It's something to do with, as the plasma gets older, the TV needs to send more electricity to fire the pixels up to the correct brightness. The lawsuit claims that panasonic messed up and on some models the TV sends more electricity than needed, which gives the blacks a milky look.

Info here:

http://asia.cnet.com/reviews/home_av/tvs/0,39037594,62061625,00.htm

DaveW007

vyle wrote: »

Isn't there that class action lawsuit going on in america right now about the diminishing black levels on last year's range?

It's something to do with, as the plasma gets older, the TV needs to send more electricity to fire the pixels up to the correct brightness. The lawsuit claims that panasonic messed up and on some models the TV sends more electricity than needed, which gives the blacks a milky look.

Info here:

http://asia.cnet.com/reviews/home_av/tvs/0,39037594,62061625,00.htm

WOW. I didn't know about that. Thanks Vyle. Seems a bit odd that Panasonic UK claim not to know of any issues then!!!