Chewy509
Wotty wot wot.
I'm starting this thread as a vent due to the poor customer service I've received over the last few weeks, and to announce that due to extremely poor customer service I will not purchase any of their products in future...
1. Panasonic. (My wife has been dealing with this one). The in-laws split system air-conditioner is roughly 2 years old, however has been serviced 7 times by Panasonic due to ongoing poor performance. (It dripping water inside the house, gas levels dropping rapidly even though they can't find a leak, and most recently it's being tripping the safety switch for the electrical circuit). It only took daily phone calls to Panasonic for 3 weeks, escalation to a senior manager at Panasonic Head Office, and 4 visits by different technicians in those 3 weeks to get the matter resolved - they ended up replacing the outside unit completely as they couldn't find any faults even though it was clearly demonstrated their was a fault with the air con.
Also the in-laws microwave died 3 weeks within warranty period, however it must be sent away for repair (which is fine, as it's clearly stated in the warranty statement), however it's expected to take 6-8 weeks before someone at Panasonic will even look at it, let alone repair or replace the unit.
2. Samsung - specifically mobile phones. I'm the not so proud owner of the Samsung Ultratouch (GT-S8300T) mobile phone and have found some significant issues with the phone. I've made several inquiries to Samsung support and only on the 3rd request for information did I get a response, other than "someone will get back to you". I left it 3 weeks between each inquiry to give them adequate time to respond.
The issues I have found are:
1. When the phone is in MTP (Media Transfer Protocol) mode, it will only work with Windows. Mac OSX, Linux or any other OS, MTP mode does not work - in fact the phone reboots itself (and more on this later) when you attempt to connect. I've most likely found the issue to be how the phone expects the MTP init packets to occur, (it requires 2x sets of init packets without read back of information - but the MTP spec says this should only occur on device timeout if the USB stack says unable to send data - that is a send timeout). I've reported this to Samsung, and they responded with - See if Apple or your Linux distro has updates in regards to MTP!
2. When the phone reboots due to the above condition, ALL unlock codes are bypassed - this includes your SIM pin code, both PUK codes, etc... Samsung did not respond to this.
3. The S8300T when in USB Mass Storage mode says it's a GT-M8800 mobile phone (USB Device Name String), and when in MTP mode shares the same USB ID as the GT-M7600 mobile... FYI USB IDs should be unique for each USB device and mode. Samsung response:
4. The phone has the ability to run widgets/gadgets on it's desktop, however if the phone powers off due to loss of battery power all widgets get reverted to factory default? They said to return it for repair to have it's firmware upgraded, but it's already running the latest firmware? Speaking to a customer service rep on the phone also says that flashing the firmware will do nothing as it's already on the latest version.
5. The phone has the ability to record short video clips as mp4. However on closer inspection they are actually encoded using 3GPP and the file has a mp4 extension.
Mplayer, VLC and Windows Media player can all view the video, but you get no audio as you need to install the AMR audio codec. Samsung do not supply nor provide the ability to download the codec from their website. They suggest they I use their "Samsung PC Suite" to view the videos... who cares that you may actually want to email the clip to someone, or heaven forbid, make a DVD from the clip! This makes the camcoder mode useless for most people. (I do have the AMR codecs installed on Solaris/Linux, but for Windows users the only way to get any form of the AMR codec is to install the K-Lite codec pack and enable it in the setup).
6. The phone supports SyncML, but there are no settings on the phone to setup SyncML (not even via Bluetooth) nor do Samsung provide conduit software to access the phone to sync with Outlook (which is the main reason for SyncML). Samsung customer service also says:
7. The phone has a GPS unit but does not come with any GPS software, and Samsung will not give you a list of compatible GPS software that will work on the phone. (The GPS as far as I know can't be accessed via the JavaVM that comes with the phone, which rules out any generic GPS software).
8. The phone can work as a modem when connected to your PC, but Samsung won't provide any documentation on the GSM AT commands the phone supports? (Which is needed to get the modem init string correct to ensure you use 3G/UMTS and not just GSM). Also in modem mode it's possible to access the internal memory of the phone including SIM card data, TXT/MMS messages, contacts, etc, but these are left as extensions to the normal GSM AT command set.
9. In USB Mass storage mode, you can only see the MicroSD card storage and none of the internal phone storage. It is possible to move pics, movie clips and other data between internal storage and the MicroSD card, but to do this requires you view the video/image/etc individually on the phone and then select 3 menu options to move it.
10. The built-in media player has several faults, including some severe UI faults. eg The next clip button will take you to the previous clip, and the previous clip button takes you to the next clip? WTF? No response on this issue.
All my other questions regarding the phone have either been unanswered, or the general response of - we'll get someone to call you back (and no one ever does). This includes dropped calls, the phone not ringing (but the display says incoming call) even though ring volume is at maximum, the TXT interface being slow and awkward (there is no way to move the cursor backwards and forwards in the TXT), and their is no way to recalibrate the touch screen (my registers about 5mm down of where I touch). Also in some instances the touch interface can take 1-2 secs (that's full seconds) to register a touch?
Also, if you choose to use the email support option, it must be done via a web interface (which I have no problems with). But when you get a response from Samsung, and you need to reply to it, there is no reply option to the email. You must start a new support incident via the web interface!
So both Samsung and Panasonic are on my "do not buy list" due to poor customer service (and the crappy products I or others have received from them).
Who do you have on your do not buy list?
1. Panasonic. (My wife has been dealing with this one). The in-laws split system air-conditioner is roughly 2 years old, however has been serviced 7 times by Panasonic due to ongoing poor performance. (It dripping water inside the house, gas levels dropping rapidly even though they can't find a leak, and most recently it's being tripping the safety switch for the electrical circuit). It only took daily phone calls to Panasonic for 3 weeks, escalation to a senior manager at Panasonic Head Office, and 4 visits by different technicians in those 3 weeks to get the matter resolved - they ended up replacing the outside unit completely as they couldn't find any faults even though it was clearly demonstrated their was a fault with the air con.
Also the in-laws microwave died 3 weeks within warranty period, however it must be sent away for repair (which is fine, as it's clearly stated in the warranty statement), however it's expected to take 6-8 weeks before someone at Panasonic will even look at it, let alone repair or replace the unit.
2. Samsung - specifically mobile phones. I'm the not so proud owner of the Samsung Ultratouch (GT-S8300T) mobile phone and have found some significant issues with the phone. I've made several inquiries to Samsung support and only on the 3rd request for information did I get a response, other than "someone will get back to you". I left it 3 weeks between each inquiry to give them adequate time to respond.
The issues I have found are:
1. When the phone is in MTP (Media Transfer Protocol) mode, it will only work with Windows. Mac OSX, Linux or any other OS, MTP mode does not work - in fact the phone reboots itself (and more on this later) when you attempt to connect. I've most likely found the issue to be how the phone expects the MTP init packets to occur, (it requires 2x sets of init packets without read back of information - but the MTP spec says this should only occur on device timeout if the USB stack says unable to send data - that is a send timeout). I've reported this to Samsung, and they responded with - See if Apple or your Linux distro has updates in regards to MTP!
2. When the phone reboots due to the above condition, ALL unlock codes are bypassed - this includes your SIM pin code, both PUK codes, etc... Samsung did not respond to this.
3. The S8300T when in USB Mass Storage mode says it's a GT-M8800 mobile phone (USB Device Name String), and when in MTP mode shares the same USB ID as the GT-M7600 mobile... FYI USB IDs should be unique for each USB device and mode. Samsung response:
4. The phone has the ability to run widgets/gadgets on it's desktop, however if the phone powers off due to loss of battery power all widgets get reverted to factory default? They said to return it for repair to have it's firmware upgraded, but it's already running the latest firmware? Speaking to a customer service rep on the phone also says that flashing the firmware will do nothing as it's already on the latest version.
5. The phone has the ability to record short video clips as mp4. However on closer inspection they are actually encoded using 3GPP and the file has a mp4 extension.
Mplayer, VLC and Windows Media player can all view the video, but you get no audio as you need to install the AMR audio codec. Samsung do not supply nor provide the ability to download the codec from their website. They suggest they I use their "Samsung PC Suite" to view the videos... who cares that you may actually want to email the clip to someone, or heaven forbid, make a DVD from the clip! This makes the camcoder mode useless for most people. (I do have the AMR codecs installed on Solaris/Linux, but for Windows users the only way to get any form of the AMR codec is to install the K-Lite codec pack and enable it in the setup).
6. The phone supports SyncML, but there are no settings on the phone to setup SyncML (not even via Bluetooth) nor do Samsung provide conduit software to access the phone to sync with Outlook (which is the main reason for SyncML). Samsung customer service also says:
7. The phone has a GPS unit but does not come with any GPS software, and Samsung will not give you a list of compatible GPS software that will work on the phone. (The GPS as far as I know can't be accessed via the JavaVM that comes with the phone, which rules out any generic GPS software).
8. The phone can work as a modem when connected to your PC, but Samsung won't provide any documentation on the GSM AT commands the phone supports? (Which is needed to get the modem init string correct to ensure you use 3G/UMTS and not just GSM). Also in modem mode it's possible to access the internal memory of the phone including SIM card data, TXT/MMS messages, contacts, etc, but these are left as extensions to the normal GSM AT command set.
9. In USB Mass storage mode, you can only see the MicroSD card storage and none of the internal phone storage. It is possible to move pics, movie clips and other data between internal storage and the MicroSD card, but to do this requires you view the video/image/etc individually on the phone and then select 3 menu options to move it.
10. The built-in media player has several faults, including some severe UI faults. eg The next clip button will take you to the previous clip, and the previous clip button takes you to the next clip? WTF? No response on this issue.
All my other questions regarding the phone have either been unanswered, or the general response of - we'll get someone to call you back (and no one ever does). This includes dropped calls, the phone not ringing (but the display says incoming call) even though ring volume is at maximum, the TXT interface being slow and awkward (there is no way to move the cursor backwards and forwards in the TXT), and their is no way to recalibrate the touch screen (my registers about 5mm down of where I touch). Also in some instances the touch interface can take 1-2 secs (that's full seconds) to register a touch?
Also, if you choose to use the email support option, it must be done via a web interface (which I have no problems with). But when you get a response from Samsung, and you need to reply to it, there is no reply option to the email. You must start a new support incident via the web interface!
So both Samsung and Panasonic are on my "do not buy list" due to poor customer service (and the crappy products I or others have received from them).
Who do you have on your do not buy list?
I'll pick and choose within a company when they sell a variety of products. The only company I won't buy from any longer is Walmart.
