Eye-sore

My replacement Panasonic AX100 projector has become faulty. I've only had it three months. I've returned it to Superfi today for repair. I also asked them to ask Panasonic to provide me with the option of a replacement or refund. It will be interesting to see what transpires with that request.

Regarding Superfi, I sent them an email detailing the problem and told them I would be in later today to return it. They made the effort to call me first thing this morning and tell me that their weekly shipment to headquarters was scheduled for 10am and if I got the projector in before that time it could be moved on straight-away. Splendid.

The fault is something to do with the iris mechanism. This controls the amount of light that is emitted from the projector and, according to the manual, contributes significantly to the life of the bulb. Well, the bulb's still going strong...

The most visible symptom is this: the projector turns itself off when you turn it on.

The "Self Check" option in the hidden / system menu places a red light next to the word "Iris".

Looking back now, I can see that I first had an inkling of a problem about a month ago. The picture suddenly lost life and vibrancy. I had been operating the projector on its "Normal" picture setting up to this point and now the picture was underwhelming. It was fixed by changing the picture mode to "Vivid Cinema" and I remained very happy.

A couple of weeks ago, I noticed a slight discolouration of the picture on my browser window (which is predominantly white). The left edge of the picture was pink, the right edge blue. As time went on, this got worse and was joined by the bottom half of the picture being tinged grey. While playing games or watching movies, the discolouration was not noticable but, as I say, when using the computer it is distracting so.

About a week ago, the projector started misbehaving in the first couple of minutes after you switch it on. About thirty seconds to one minute after switching on, the image would suddenly go extremely dim for about half-a-second, then return to normal, then dim again, then return to normal and be fine until the projector was switched off.

A few days after this behaviour manifested itself, it started to switch itself off when turned on about one time in three. Now, it switches itself off every time.

I did manage a workaround however. You turn it on. It turns itself off. You can then hard switch it off using the power switch on the back. Wait a second or two for the light to go off and switch it back on. Power up and the projector will display a picture until you turn it off again. Then you'll have to do this again.

Panasonic PT-AX100E Hidden / System menu

You can access a hidden menu on the Panasonic PT-AX100E projector by bringing up the menu, highlighting the "Options", er, option and holding down the Enter button for a few seconds. The "Options" menu must be highlighting the first option "Input Guide". The menu is called "Ext Options".

While I have no idea what most of these options actually do and therefore strongly recommend not changing them, I did have a fiddle with the "Flicker Fixing" option. In this you get six screens showing your current input in red, green and blue in desk and ceiling mode. You use the Up and Down controls to switch between screens and Left and Right to tune the value. If the image flickers, take a note of the original value, then tune the value until the flickering stops or becomes much less intense. Use the Return or Menu buttons to return to the menu.

Another option I looked at was the projector "Self Check" which gives you the temperature of the unit and tells you there are five fans inside! I sit directly underneath my projector, it is literally a foot above me, I can touch it while sitting. I use it in Eco-Mode and the noise it produces ranges from virtually silent to audible but unobtrusive. I'd have never guessed there were five fans working inside. The noise of the projector is drowned out by the fan on my Xbox (not 360) sitting a couple of meters away on the other side of the room!

Oh, and by the way, the projector is still working fabulously. Yay!

Is poor customer service necessary?

It's probably been clear that I have been largely unhappy with Superfi Coventry's customer service. Superfi Coventry were consistently polite but were always passing the buck to Panasonic, their Nottingham headquarters or Superfi policy. Martin at Superfi Head Office, on the other hand, was active in resolving the situation and I felt confident in his desire to get the matter expedited. From my first contact with him, it took two weeks to receive a replacement projector in my hands. For comparison, within two weeks of returning the projector to Superfi Coventry, they had simply sent it to Nottingham Head Office but without any details of its provenance or even that it needed to be replaced because it was faulty (none of my emails were forwarded and mention of a fault was made on the appropriate paperwork).

Things going wrong, especially new technology items (and the Panasonic AX100 is not just a minor evolution, indeed, it's new size may shock owners of former models), is a circumstance that must happen with reasonable regularity. While there is natural disappointment at an item you have purchased being faulty it is how that situation is dealt with by the retailer that determines the quality of the customer's experience.

So what would have made me happy? I shall propose such a solution and leave it to you to determine whether it is unreasonable or financially undesirable from Superfi Coventry's point of view.

This is an overview of what happened:

1. December 1st: I ordered the projector.


2. December 8th: I received the projector.


3. December 16th: I reported the fault but told Superfi I would be placing the projector into Normal for fifty hours to see if that sorted it.


4. January 5th: I requested a replacement on January 5th, 28 days after receiving it.


5. January 8th: Superfi Coventry responded by saying they could not arrange a replacement because it was now more than 28 days since I had received it and Panasonic don't furnish replacements after 28 days. An interesting note here is that this is the only time in all my email correspondence with Superfi that they replied on a different day to when they received the email.


6. January 9th: I returned the projector to Superfi Coventry. They say that it will take about two weeks to be sorted.


7. January 10th: Superfi Coventry send the projector to Superfi Nottingham for processing but do not supply the email provenance and do not make it clear that a refund / replacement / repair is being waited for. The fault description on the repair job card says in its entirety: "see notes can you please call panosonic as they are aware of fault" [sic].


8. January 19th: I request an update from Superfi Coventry and they get in touch with Superfi Head Office and inform me that the projector is still sitting there awaiting collection by Panasonic. When asked to chase it, they suggest I call Superfi Head Office direct and give me the appropriate name and number. I call Superfi Head Office and he sounds genuinely surprised when I tell him it is faulty, that it has been faulty for nearly six weeks now and that I am waiting for a repair / replacement.


9. January 22nd: Superfi Head Office call me (a most pleasant surprise) to tell me that Panasonic have now picked up the projector and should be authorising a replacement. He'll call me when they confirm.


10. January 26th: Superfi Head Office call me and let me know Panasonic have authorised a replacement and that it will be at Superfi Coventry with their next delivery. Panasonic items arrive there on a Thursday.


11. February 1st: Superfi Head Office call me and let me know that the projector is at Superfi Coventry ready for collection. I make arrangements and collect it.

What I wanted to happen:

1. January 5th: I request a replacement projector. Superfi Coventry respond in their usual timely manner after making appropriate arrangements and tell me they'll call when it arrives and I can bring my faulty projector in and swap it for the replacement at the same time. This is especially nice because they know of my severely limiting health (I have told them about it on several of my emails) and that travelling to Superfi means making special arrangements and extra physical effort and pain.


2. Preferably January 8th or, acceptably, January 15th: Superfi Coventry call me to let me know that the replacement has arrived. I make arrangements and take the faulty one in and return home with a new one.

In general, I wanted Superfi Coventry to do the chasing. I wanted to leave this matter in their hands and for them to contact me when the situation was resolved.

I was happy when this was the circumstance with Superfi Head Office. It instilled confidence and a feeling that a satisfactory resolution was something they were actively working towards on my behalf.

Am I being unreasonable?

68 and all's well.

68 hours on the replacement Pansonic AX100 lamp time and no brightness fluctuation or flickering. The 68th hour was the time when the problem started to occur on the previous projector. Here's hoping that is an end to the situation.

Panasonic AX100: Take Two

Martin from Superfi Head Office has rung to let me know I have a replacement projector ready at Superfi Coventry just as he said last week.

I hope this one works out all right but I'll only know in a couple of weeks as it took 8 days before the brightness flickering problem reared it's head before.

New projector on its way

Martin at Superfi Head Office confirmed today that Panasonic have authorised a replacement unit and that it should arrive at Superfi Coventry with their next Panasonic delivery. As the previous projector arrived on a Thursday I should get a phone call on the 1st February to confirm collection.

To be honest I think it is a bit of a poor show that the projector wasn't here this Thursday as Martin had arranged this on Monday but as long as it's here next Thursday I shall be adequately satisfied.

Let's just hope it works!

Superfi Nottingham get back to me

Superfi Head Office got back to me today without being chased. This is pleasing as this is what Martin said he would do. He said he would be trying to secure a replacement unit for me from Panasonic. Hopefully, the next call will be to tell me I can pick it up.

Panasonic Customer Support in single working day response shock!

A pleasant surprise in my Inbox today (Monday) as Jill Farrar from Panasonic customer support has replied to my Friday message confirming that Panasonic have picked up my projector from Superfi (at last). She also made the following pleasing comment:

It will now be brought to Panasonic for inspection, and we will try to expedite this for you.

Chasing the light: 'my' Panasonic AX100 projector remains in the ether

A mere six days after my previous customer support request from Panasonic (good these 24-hour replies, aren't they?), Panasonic reply with a "it's nothing to do with us" and "there's nothing wrong with our projector" e-mail. They state, quite rightly (as I understand the Sales of Goods Act 1974), that Superfi are the ones who authorise replacements, refunds and repairs because that is where I bought it. Yet Superfi Coventry keep shifting the blame to Panasonic for their tardy service. Superfi Coventry also claim no knowledge of their legal obligations with Jameela repeatedly stating "I don't know anything about that." Jameela being the store manager. Hmm.

I also contacted Superfi Coventry today to see if I would be able to get my projector back next week as they initially suggested. Would it surprise you to learn that the answer was "No"? In fact, my projector had been sitting in their service centre for seven working days "waiting for Panasonic to collect it."

However, they did give me their Head Office number and suggested I call them. A helpful chap named Martin answered and seemed surprised that the projector was faulty (which is odd) and that I had reported this fault over a month ago. I guess he hadn't seen that detailed sheet of fault information I placed with the projector as he was simply moving the projector directly to Panasonic. He was unable to contact the person at Panasonic he was looking for this afternoon and promised to get back to me on Monday.

The projector goes back

This is regarding my Panasonic AX100 with its fluctuating brightness problem also known as the Eco-Mode flicker. My blog entry.

Apparently Panasonic only swap out projectors within 28 days. Thanks to a four week delay by Panasonic's hilariously titled Customer Support department and a weekend-spanning delay by Superfi, I missed the 28 days. Despite having reported the problem 8 days after receiving the projector.

Still the projector has been returned to Superfi with an estimated resolution time of two weeks. That'll be the 23rd January 2007.

Amazingly, two days after returning the projector to Superfi, Panasonic Customer Support replied to my original email requesting, well, customer support. Here is what they wrote:

ISSUE RESOLUTION: Dear Mr Champion,

Thank you for your e-mail enquiry. Firstly, please accept my sincere apologies for the uncharacteristic delay in our response. Due to an unexpected increase in the number of contacts we have recently received, we have been unable to provide as speedy a response as we would normally.

If you still require assistance, I would be grateful if you would confirm.

Firstly, I believe my understanding of the term "issue resolution" may differ somewhat from Panasonic's.

Secondly, the response delay is not uncharacteristic from my standpoint. I also owned a Panasonic AE200 (which I was very very very happy with) but an enquiry regarding this projector took months to materialise. So long that I had forgotten I had asked them about it. So long that I had sold the projector.

Thirdly, I replied within minutes. This was on Wednesday, 11th January 2007. It is now Saturday and I still haven't heard. The Panasonic website says that they aim to reply to all customer support emails with 24 hours. They might aim. They miss.

Panasonic AX100E: brightness flicker problem

(Make sure you read the entire post.)

After a couple of years of saving and selling a load of stuff on eBay, I'm in the fortunate position of being able to purchase an HD projector. I've chosen a Panasonic AX100. Naturally, however, every silver lining has a cloud...

History

My previous projector was a Panasonic AE200. I got this as a replacement for a faulty AE100 and I was delighted with it from day one. However, the time was approaching to consider selling it before a new bulb purchase became urgent or buy a new bulb. Because it didn't support HD I decided to sell the projector and put the money toward a shiny new one.

Brightness Flicker Problem

Disagreeably, a week or so after getting the AX100 a nasty little gremlin raised his head in the form of a picture whose brightness alternated every couple of seconds when used in Eco-Mode.

Agreeably, a search of the web brought about a DIY solution:

• Put the projector in Normal mode for about fifty hours.
  

Splendidly simple. And, you know, it worked. I'm now happily using the projector in Eco-Mode for a further few days and all seems to be well. Terrific.

Except...

This didn't solve the problem permanently. About 50 hours bulb life later, the problem returned. It is less intrusive and more intermittent now but still there and still disappointing.