Reliable Panasonic service centre in Aus

N

Newt

Active member
Hi guys,

I blew a board on my DVX and I am having a great deal of difficulty finding a reliable service centre in NSW. I took it to the Panasonic repair centre near me (as advised by Panasonic) but they have been buggering me around for a month and still no camera back in my hands.

Anyone have any recommendations? I'll basically ship to Melbourne or Brisbane if I have to...

Thanks for any suggestions
 
In answer to my question...they are all shi* *lol* 7 weeks and no love. It's a board, not brain surgery. Apparently it takes 3.5 weeks to send a board 320km.

This makes me worry about picking up the HVX when the local service is so bad.....and there isn't a rental house for at least 320km.

Rant complete, stick a fork in me.
 
Not quite complete. Just found out it will take til February next year to get the board in.

I live on Mars apparently.

Bugger me *lol*
 
That's crazy.

I just bought a dvx100A in Adelaide.

It started doing crazy things, so I phoned up the major panasonic dealer and they gave me the number of a repair technician.

Apparently there was sand in the mechanism and everywhere.

It had to be pulled apart and cleaned completely, new capstan motor, some other new bits, the heads cleaned and aligned etc $465.00!

Which actually was pretty good given some of the prices I've seen elsewhere. And I bought it pretty cheap as well, with the 16:9 adapter.

They got the parts in two days and had it for about a week, (3 days in the queue) They said it was a big job so I did'nt pressure them to get it done quickly.

Just got it back and it will be thoroughly tested tomorrow.

The arrangement they had in place was that they initially do a quote which costs $35.00 then they tell you what needs to be done, if you dont want it done you still pay the $35.00.

Is it possible for you to get someone else to give a quote given their outrageous timelines to fix it?
 
Hi Anamorph, thanks for the reply. Unfortunately not, a quote would require the camera I've been told. I will def look interstate for servicing if something goes wrong again. This has certainly been an eye opener for me.

I think it boils down to the fact that although a repair technician may be registered with Panasonic because they repair all 'major' brands, does not mean they have actually repaired panasonic before, or the actual camera. I know that techs can't be up to speed on all models, especially cameras that are a couple of years old, but still.

I might have to get the name of your repair mob of you.

Cheers
 
Hi,

I forgot to select "instant notification" in the reply so did not know you had replied till I checked later. New to the forum.

Anyway, I got the camera back and only had it in my hands for two days before having to shoot a film.

It's very different to the vx2000. It's a lot quieter than before with the new capstan motor and the tape transport was fine, very quick to find last timecode, no dropouts or any problems there.

When I looked at the footage later, I noticed some spots on the lens at wide angle, thought I kept it clean.

To my horror, after shining a torch into the lens and using a magnifying glass, I noticed sand and grit INSIDE the lens. That was not there before.

Looks to me like they probably blew out the tape transport with compressed air and blew the sand behind the lens front element.

So one problem cured and another created.

If they knew this camera, they would have foreseen the possibility of sand moving from the tape transport to behind the lens. I think they are electronic experts so no problems with the electronics side but optically, I don't think they know much. Anyway, will have to take it back when they open after christmas and get them to clean it out. My gut feeling is they will not know how to do that so I may need to take it elsewhere.

I think speaking directly to the technician is important rather than just speaking with the girl at the front desk.

I'll let you know how it goes.

It would be good to find someone in Australia that really knows these cameras and if there are problems, post it to them.

Labour charge was $60.00 per hour. So someone who really knows what they are doing would charge much less than someone who is doing it for the first time.

I agree, I think they might repair videos, televisions and fridges but not know much about this camera.

.
 
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