Panasonic Service/Repair So.Cal.

[John Sharaf]

Vic,

What’s the problem with your Varicam?

As far as service goes, you’re kind of stuck; Panasonic factory service in LA or NJ. While they are not really “user friendly” or fast, they do get the job done in their own time. Compared to Sony, they’re princely, you might actually get to talk with the technician who’s working on your gear, but you must give in to the fact that there’s no where else to go and be accepting of the situation. If you are getting nowhere, contact your dealer (where you bought the gear) to intercede on your behalf.

I don’t think it’ll do any good to take it to Hoffamn or EVS, they’ll just send it the factory shop.

Good luck,

JS

[Peter Steinman]

I think the problem with Panasonic is that there is actually only one person doing all the Varicam work in LA. At least that is the feeling I got after having my camera in service and dealing with ‘tech support’. Hard to even call it that. Their actual tech support people aren’t even allowed near a Varicam or so one told me.

They didn’t even give me an R/A number or any sort of tracking info. Just send it down and I’ll take care of it sort of thing. Made me nervous. They didn’t even insure it when they shipped it back to me. UPS guy just left it in front of my door. I’m right on a busy street too and it was in plain view to anyone driving buy. Brown box with huge letters saying AJ-HDC27F on all sides. Gah !

I guess Varicam experts tend to be working making movies rather then in tech support.

[John Sharaf]

Leakn’,

I think you are actually correct; there is only one tech in LA (Tom) who works on Varicams, and recently he’s been up to his neck in the software upgrades they forgot to tell us about.

It’s the same with the 1200A’s, there’s only one tech who works on those, but this is not dissimilar to the situation at Sony, Iky and the rest, you must understand that this gear (except the decks themselves) is inherently very stable and troublefree; it’s usually misuse, abouse or plain out-and-out dropping that results in most camera service calls that I’m familiar with in more than twenty years of owning professional video cameras.

As far as your shipping story, UPS should definately have required a signiture for delivery, unless yours is on file and they normally don’t require one for each occasion. To insure such a shipment costs about $1/$100, so a camera body would be over $600 in insurance; do you want to pay that? In the case you describe, UPS would have been liable, but probably not for the full amount! I routinely deliver and pickup cameras and other equipment of such value rather than trust UPS or FedEx when possible, I know that geography and other circumstances do however come into play.

[Peter Steinman]

It was actually only $200 for the $50k insurance thru UPS online that I paid shipping it down. Still a lot of money and I didn’t like payng it. You would think Panasonic could arrange some ‘deal’ with a shipper to make this work. I figured they would do they same back as it was under warranty.

Now I’m just curious what would have happened had the package gone missing or had been damaged. Sounds like I would have just lost the camera. If Panasonic didn’t insure it out of LA then it falls under the $500 UPS max I belive. And that in fact only goes to the shipper. I would have been done. No ra #, no invoice, nothing but, Tom’s word in LA there ever was a camera I sent him and a few emails that anyone could claim were faked. Even if Tom said, “Yea I shipped out the camera. You’re claim is with UPS.” I’d be done. When I callled down and asked if they had my camera the receptionist said, “We don’t have a record of it. Maybe it’s on Tom’s desk” That thrilled me. Glad it was actualy on his bench and he got it back to me.

I’d use to have a small computer resale business that did nothing but, ship UPS in the 90’s. If I told them I shipped out a $50,000 computer and it never showed up they would have died laughing at me. I would have got a check for $500 in the mail (or whatever it is now).

The UPS guy got all shocked when I told him the next day. He said they have special procedures for anything over $10,000. It sits in a locked cage and has all sorts of hand off rules and documentation. It doesn’t move an inch without people recording it. No way it would get left on a doorstep. He still kids me about it to this day whan a package comes. Panasonic didn’t even declare a value at all.

So, glad I found my camera before someone else did. I sure wont ship it to them. It would be cheaper/safer to fly down to LA, stay in a hotel, pick up the camera, and fly back if I had to. I can see why people might want to find someone else.

[Jan Crittenden livingston]

Hi,

We are self-insured which is why the Panasonic Service facility did not insure it. If something had happened your camera would have been covered by Panasonic, and frankly it probably would be easier and faster to get the replacement out of Panasonic than it would UPS or Fed Ex.

Hope that helps your understanding,

Jan

Jan Crittenden Livingston
Product Manager, DVCPRO, DVCPRO50, AG-DVX100
Panasonic Broadcast & TV Systems

[Chris Bell]

Vic,

I assume you carry insurance on this camera. Propper “all risk” coverage covers shipping UPS/Fed Ex/ ect.

Chris Bell

[Peter Steinman]

I really didn’t mean to hijack Vic’s thread.

My camera made it back safe and sound. I just wanted to point out some quirks with the LA service to be aware of.

The legal limbo between self-insured Panasonic, UPS where someone screwed up, and my own insurance with a third party shipping it back to me isn’t a happy thought. As much as I would love to think Panasonic would have sent me a brand spanking new camera if someone would have grabbed the box in front of my house I’m glad the issue didn’t come up. There was no record of my camera, or even me, at Panasonic in their service records when I called and asked when it was coming home.

It would be me claiming I didn’t receive it with no proof I didn’t, UPS claiming they delivered it with no proof they did , and Pansonic claiming they never heard of it with no proof they did. I could just imagine the call to my insurance agent now.

It would be nice to know my insurance covered it and I’m going to find out Monday. I’m sure the camera will need to be serviced someday. Hopefully for the fix to the dark compression setting but, that’s another story. As far as I know my insurance, or most insurance, doesn’t cover loss like that. In shipping you hand over insurance to the shipper. Seems to easy to abuse for a insurance company to cover but, who knows. My agent was very clear about exclusions when I got the policy though. If I give or rent someone my camera and they just take it I’m out the camera. A third party shipping it back to me out of my control sounds a little similar.

Anyway, Panasonic needs a clear chain of custody at their LA office. Maybe it is on Tom’s bench and maybe it’s not really good enough for a Varicam when it isn’t for my tripod head. RA # and paperwork at the least before a camera gets to them. Luckily the issue didn’t come up for me but, if it goes down again I’ll demand it before I ship it out. Otherwise I’ll use my dealer and get and ra# and paperwork from them even if they just ship it down.

[Tony]

Jan,

Does the self insured coverage also cover “loss of income” by the client for a lost or stolen camera which was delivered by Panasonic to the client.

In the past I have made Panasonic executives aware of the UPS delivery problem and am disappointed that such a lax procedure is allowed given the high value of the equipment.

FYI to all Tom the LA repair tech is an excellent engineer who I highly respect and recommend having dealt with him personally in the past. He is quite an asset at the Panasonic service center in LA.

Tony Salgado

[Chris Bell]

Oops, sorry Vic… I meant leaknoil.

Leaknoil,

You should consider carrying “all risk” insurance which covers 3rd party shippers, ect. There are too many “grey” situations in which an insurance company can withhold payment on a claim. I prefer to carry coverage which covers everthing, including terrorism.

When I ship gear for service, I include a return waybill addressed to my local FedEx/UPS station with a HOLD FOR PICKUP. That way I know it’s not going to be left on my door step. I had a situation several years ago when FedEx claimed they left my Aaton XTR at the door step… the camera mysteriously appeared the next day. You can never be too careful.

Chris Bell

[Peter Steinman]

I’m not sure I was offered anything like that. My agent specifically told me nobody covered someone taking my camera unless there was a physical break-in or damage. He said if I rented the camera out nobody would cover it if the person just never came back. I’m no expert on insurance but, I had several people tell me this or similar. I’ll ask the guy on Monday as I really am curious if I wasted $200 insuring the camera down to LA.

My agent has been doing production insurance for years and I know lots of people consider him an expert in the field. He is an agent for most of the big insurance companies that still do production insurance. I’d be surpriised if he got it wrong but, ya never know. Now if this means a camera lost in shipping is covered or not I wouldn’t guess but, I will find out.