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Please see the feedback that I have left on Amazon regarding my Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX10K. I had a very disappointing experience trying to get in touch with Panasonic support. I'm including it in text format, but you can find it under the product on Amazon's website.

I'm writing this review mostly about warranty policy. I bought this camera as a "pocket camera", a camera that I could carry around in my pocket and take out as the circumstances or need arose. I do a lot of street photography. Size and speed of focus were prime considerations. In that regard, it has performed adequately, though not well. Pictures taken with care and time have come out well, but those taken quickly and on the run are often not as sharp as I would have liked. I can't definitively say that there is a camera that would do a better job, but there's a lot of room in the market for a better competitor.

Because I knew that it was going to lead an active life, I purchased an extended warranty through Amazon which included accidental damage coverage.

Yesterday evening, I found that the lens covering mechanism would neither open nor close fully, rendering the camera unusable. Further, over the course of a little less than a year of use, dust and lint had begun to creep into the lens mechanism and could not be removed by cleaning the surface of the lens. The problem with the lens covering mechanism appears to be subtle, but mechanical in nature. In truth, I do not know whether it would be categorized as ordinary or accidental damage. It does not correspond to any specific accident.

At any rate, Friday night, I called the Amazon-sold extended warranty provider. After giving them all my information (they are available 24x7), they informed me that the camera was still under warranty by Panasonic and that I would have to go through them first. (Usually, one is lucky when damage occurs under warranty, but not this time.) I called Panasonic support only to find that they are only open Monday - Friday, 9 AM to 5 PM. (Which time zone, I don't even know). Their only published means of obtaining warranty support was to ship my camera to Texas (at my expense). And this for a repair that I didn't even know whether they would cover. I also made several unsuccessful attempts to create a web-based repair ticket. Their site was unresponsive (or should I say, it responded by bringing me back to the same web page where I could unsuccessfully try again.) To me, this level of support is unsatisfactory.

1) they should have more availability than weekdays, 9-5.
2) repairs should not require mailing a unit to Texas at one's own expense. Lord knows, there are plenty of competent repair faclities in New York, where I live, but they even had a web tool that offered to find the closest repair site to my zip code and all it could come up with was Texas. and

3) the possibility that my problem was not covered under warranty left me the possibility of mailing my camera to Texas (at my cost), being told that it was not repairable under warranty, waiting for it to be returned from Texas (at whose cost, I don't know), only then to have to deal with Amazon's extended warranty provider.

And this, for a camera that I try to carry with me wherever I go. Just wholly unsatisfactory.

And for the record, my rating is for the camera when it's working. Factoring warranty and support coverage into the rating would bring it down to two stars.


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