Plasma TV

valleyboy22

Bought a 50" Panasonic plasma TV just under 5 years ago from John Lewis.

It has now developed a fault and under warranty(Just a month left) they sent an engineer out to check it. He said the screen was on the way out and need to contact Panasonic, but might find they don't do them anymore? Does anyone know if this is the case please because if it is they will offer a replacement like for like TV. The issue i got here is if they can fix it, then it wont be until after xmas which would be fun with 2 kids with a dodgy TV. And also it will no doubt be out of warranty by the time it come back.
Thanks

waamo

I don't think anybody makes plasma tv's anymore.

neilmcl

So is there a question in there?

It's unfortunate that it broke down just before Xmas but these things happen. Nobody produces plasma TVs anymore so if the screen is gone then you're unlikely to get a replacement plasma TV.

I've a top of the range Panny plasma that stopped working at the beginning of the year just inside the warranty period (6 years in my case), I was so glad that they could get it repaired because than OLED I've yet to see an LCD TV come close when it comes to picture quality.

valleyboy22

He did say most probably won't or if he can then the price on the replacement screen would be alot higher than replacement the TV. I heard plasma gets a better picture and happy with mine, but I would Rater get this sorted before Christmas if possible. Hopefully here off jl tomorrow like he said

valleyboy22

If they dont do them anymore how did u get yours done neilmcl?

neilmcl

valleyboy22 wrote: »

If they dont do them anymore how did u get yours done neilmcl?

It wasn't a problem with the screen, just one of the circuit boards. I had to wait a couple of weeks whilst the old board was sent back to Panasonic and exchanged. As you can imagine, parts for these are few and far between.

valleyboy22

Ah right so not the screen like mind then, so different thing. We will see but I hope jl respond as soon as possible so I can get this sorted.

EssexExile

I'd say it's time to familiarise yourself with the terms & conditions of the John Lewis guarantee. Currently it says

If we can't repair your item, we'll replace it with an item of equivalent specification. If no equivalent product is available we‘ll discuss an alternative settlement with you, and we'll always do our best to make sure that you're satisfied with the outcome.

valleyboy22

Well like for like or he Said whatever the value we paid for the TV

jimroy

My four and a half year old Panasonic Plasma TV (P42gt50b) went 'on the blink' recently and it's still up for debate whether it was the Freeview EPG overhaul and update in August (or Freesat's or both for that matter) that sent it doolally or if it's inherent with all the PCB's in the 2012 range of Panasonic Smart TV's.

Anyway, I bought mine from John Lewis with a five year warranty and I got an engineer visit after finally contacting their av after-sales tech support since I'd not heard back from Panasonic and was going round in circles with Freeview. They were both passing me off to each other and getting me to do factory resets and retunes. Nothing worked.

The engineer who came to assess it confirmed what I'd read in the AV forums that it was a common problem and it was best just to replace the PCB. And it was lucky that replacements were still available from where they were manufactured in Germany. If they hadn't have been they would have had to take mine out and send it back for repair. (Can you imagine?!)

One was successfully ordered and replaced in-situ in my home and the tv is working perfectly again.

Did I mention the issue was that the EPG wouldn't load at all on the tv? It started first on Freeview and then Freesat. And my remote failed too. (Even with new batteries I hasten to add). I got a new one of those under warranty also.

I then heard back from Panasonic UK who acknowledged there was a known problem with the EPG not loading and so not being able to programme recordings if you had a usb disk drive attached (which I do) and there was a software update for it. But it's not over the air/online; they had to send me a usb memory stick with it on to install it. I did just that to be sure of the issue not happening again. It brought my tv software version up from 1.630 to 1.631 if any geeks out there are interested.

I'm glad I bought my tv from John Lewis and for their extended warranty as it came in very handy with this purchase with just four months left to go.

getmore4less

Like for like will be at decent 50" Smart 4K Ultra HD HDR LED.

Get some research done they may give you a choice or even let you go up in size so know what will fit your space and which models are good.
(you can probably go to 55" in the same space the bevels are much smaller these days)

There are no like for like(Plasma) if it's what you paid then that could get something serious 50" are around £400-£450 these days.

Looking forward to the follow up...

If the kids are desperate for TV plenty of cheap options out there to keep them happy for a couple of weeks.