I get quite a few emails asking what I think of Panasonic washing machines. It’s a good question because Panasonic have a very respected reputation for brown goods and as you can now buy Panasonic washing machines people are naturally interested in them, and wonder if they are just as good. I’m a fan of the Panasonic brand and currently have three of their products (a TV, a hard drive recorder, and a Blue-ray home cinema unit). I’ve also previously owned several of their VCR’s and cameras in the past and never had a single problem with any of them.
However, in the UK their washing machines were only launched in 2009, and there are only a few models to choose from so far so there’s not much of a track record on white goods yet. There’s not much data for how reliable they are, or how satisfied customers are, so it’s early days for Panasonic washing machines. It’s highly likely they will be striving to carve an equally good reputation for white goods though.
Any new brand of washing machine has an uphill struggle to become established in an overcrowded market especially against names that have been producing white goods in the UK for many decades. I can’t help feeling there are already too many washing machine brands to chose from (even though many are owned by the same handful of manufacturers) but I suppose there is always room for genuine innovation or better quality if that proves to be what’s on offer.
Panasonic seem to be pitched in the mid price range competing with the likes of LG or AEG so I would judge their washing machines against those brands and ask, what’s different about them? What are Panasonic offering that AEG and LG aren’t?
Which? have reviewed the few Panasonic washing machine models produced so far and they appear to be impressed with their energy and water efficiency (Panasonic’s new white goods have received endorsement from the Energy Saving Trust) but not so much with wash results. Here are the models they’ve reviewed.
Panasonic NA-147VB2
Panasonic NA-14VA1WGB
Panasonic NA-16VX1WGB
Which? washing machine reviews (1 month trial offer available – What do I get when I take a trial? (Washerhelp.co.uk review)
Panasonic washing machines at John Lewis
Summary
Ultimately, as newcomers to the white goods market (at least in the UK) Panasonic have got to prove themselves. They do have an excellent reputation on brown goods products so it would be crazy of them to produce sub standard white goods to sully their name. On the other hand, can we afford to just assume anything they make will be excellent? Washing machines are very different to a TV, reliability is much harder to achieve because they are far more mechanical and have many moving parts.
If I turn it around and imagine what I’d think if AEG or Hoover started making TV’s it would seem pretty strange. LG made the transition well before Panasonic and sell both brown and white goods in the UK. However, even after several years they are still very much a newcomer in white goods, and haven’t taken too much of the market from the old established white goods manufacturers. At the end of the day moving to a completely new field of products such as moving from brown to white goods may take a good few years to get right.
An important aspect of selling white goods is a good supply of spare parts and technical information to the trade as well as a good quality aftersales network to cover the guarantee period. White goods, particularly washing machines break down much more often and need a lot more spare parts. Newcomers can take a long time to get these right, especially from a background of brown goods, and my sources tell me spares and technical information can be difficult to get for these brands. Only time will tell, but aftersales is a vital consideration when buying product likely to require some in the future unless you are content to get as long as you can out of something (with fingers crossed) and throw it away when it breaks down.
Panasonic washing machines may promise the high quality and reliability provided by their brown goods. Indeed the performance is very good, providing excellent cleaning with low noise and energy consumption. However, woe betide if you have a problem with the machine in warranty or beyond. Despite the high tech fault codes, the Panasonic appointed repair organisation cannot sensibly use them to arrive with parts to repair or even know what is wrong. End result, without washing machine for more than 4 weeks! Could you survive this long? Think of the expense for alternatives! Companies can only be regarded as good by how they perform when things go wrong; unfortunately Panasonic falls way short of what could be considered acceptable. You have been warned!
Hello E G: Yes, my last paragraph mentions this problem. I’m afraid they do seem to have a reputation for issues regarding technical support, spare parts and aftersales service.
Yes I have looked at Panasonic and its track record and it seemed good enough to make me buy one 18 months later still in its warranty period it has failed the engineer is not sure what the prolem is maybe it is the main circuit board or maybe not. Supplier is going to credit me £200. So I am going with that.
just bought a panasonic washing machine 8 hrs old model na-168vx2 .Allready showing error code h41 .Cannot complete a wash
Hello K.MCAY: Make sure there isn’t a problem with the water coming into the machine ( No water coming into the washing machine ) or the water pumping out of the machine ( Washing machine won’t empty water ), which are both common installation faults for failed brand new washing machines when first connected up.
Regarding the error code, Panasonic are one of the appliance manufacturers that are hard to get error codes and technical information for, which means independent repairers may find it difficult to work on them or refuse to do so. Manufacturers might like that idea but independent engineers are usually the first people asked to recommend a brand by customers with an expired appliance and they virtually never recommend brands they can’t subsequently repair. Most consumers trust what an engineer recommends or advises to avoid. I don’t think manufacturers realise just how many sales they lose because they shoulder out independent repairers.
My error code book is quite comprehensive (compiled by appliance repair men across the UK) and there isn’t a single Panasonic error code listed. In my opinion this is a reason to avoid an appliance brand as access to good independent repair engineers is an option that many people want and it shouldn’t be denied.
My new Panasonic washing machine has failed after only 3 months!. error code h 43 is showing which i understand is supposed to be a water leak even though there are NO signs of leakage. have waited almost a week for engineer to come and fix. initial impressions of the machine were very good but now im not to sure, not what i expected of a relatively expensive machine and considering my old hotpoint lasted 10 years without a fault ( running night and day ) im not overly pleased. we shall await the engineer and hopefully he can fix it.
____________
Update: 1st March
I had an engineer visit today to fix error code h43 which is an internal leak, sure enough once the back was off there was water lying in the base of the machine and once the water touches a sensor the machine stops. The fix for this was for the engineer to simply mop up the water and dry the sensor, so not exactly a repair as such!. We then ran the machine with the back off and no leaks could be found so put back together again and all was well until after 5 washes later it broke down again with the same error code-very frustrating. I have lost all faith in a machine which is only 3 months old and this was further compounded by the engineers comments on the panasonic machine which were poor to say the least. Tomorrow it’s over to John Lewis customer services to try and return this machine for a replacement machine and alternative brand. Not happy.
March 4th 2011
Hi, bought the Panasonic NA-168VX2 from John Lewis, it only managed 2 washes before it went awol showing error code H-55, it was replaced with a new one by john Lewis (within 5 days, Tech Support very helpfull) I have just installed the 2nd machine and hope all will be well, fingers crossed, watch this space !!
Bought this specifically for its large load capacity and energy efficiency. Its very quite compared to a lot of other machines as its got a brush less motor and washing seems to be on par with my other machine an old 5 kg Miele. But if you make use of the so called 8kg capacity, especially if you have a mixed load with a few large items that retain water, your typical large bath towels in 1 out of 4 washes, it will not do the final spin and throws U13 code for being out of balance. Take the heavy stuff out then it will spin ok. If I put the same load in my Miele, no problem spinning it! I don’t think the suspension and or dampers are as robust as they should be for a 8kg machine unless you are very careful as to how you load the machine ..let’s face it who is?
Also happen to notice the door catch mechanism which is made out of plastic and seems very weak, can’t see that lasting many years, let’s just hope when that does go Panasonic 5 year warranty don’t play silly buggers and claim it “user fault”!! On the whole good machine, but a few silly cost cutting mistakes by Panasonic which could turn out to be a pain. So only buy it if you get the free 5 year warranty otherwise look elsewhere.
Have to agree..Puchased panasonic machine 2009… John Lewis….Started to not take the fabric conditioner, so-called engineer came down with his tiny tool box got a scew driver out, washed the draw through (which i have already done) didnt even test the machine!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! said that should work now!!!!! Did it ? like hell!!!! Waiting for another panasonic tosspot to come down …
Been on to John Lewis, they are great as always, cant fault them at all . They are monitoring the situation…..
Wish I had stuck with the old faithfuls….hotpoint, indesit, even a John Lewis machine…Thought I would spend a bit more this time…..lesson learned…..Very unhappy!!1
Just exchanged my three month old panasonic NA148VA2 after having problems with it not spinning with wet towels in it even though its an 8kg machine took 1 out and it went fine, and then error code H43 kept coming up on it , i contacted panasonic and told them what was wrong they sent a third party engineer out to have a look it ,he diaganosed it to water leaking intenally so he ordered a new door seal ,after 2 weeks there was still no sign of it getting sorted, finaly after 3 weeks panasonic agreed to change it for a new one but i choose not to have a pana after reading all the write ups on different sites ,i think appliances and all there { FANCY} sensors are a little bit too far advanced ,remember the old TWIN TUB !
NA-148VA2 Owner & B jones: I have an extensive article on the problem of washing machines not spinning certain loads due to the out of balance monitoring systems. There’s also a section in there headed “Beware of large capacity washing machines”. Washing machine won’t spin just one item or very small loads
i have just bought a NA 147 VA2 and it hasnt completed a wash yet.error code H 48.asking for money back
Make sure the error code isn’t mentioned in the instruction book as ones relating to water supply or draining problems often are.
Other than that, despite having the “error code bible” compiled by dozens of independent engineers in the trade there is no mention of any Panasonic error codes at my disposal, which is why I reluctantly caution people about the brand. I personally would not want to buy an appliance where the independent repair trade have little or no technical information about them.
why are panasonic selling these machines with so many problems.the reason i bought that was all my other equipment is panasonic.which is so reliable..CMON PANASONIC SORT THIS OUT AS YOU WILL GIVING THEM AWAY
K.MCKAY says:
February 16, 2011 at 12:11 pm
just bought a panasonic washing machine 8 hrs old model na-168vx2 .Allready showing error code h41 .Cannot complete a wash
How did it turn out with your Panasonic washing machine with the H41 error? Did you get it fixed? Is it working properly now? Anybody else encountering this?
( mine is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1C_prAQuZM )
When Panasonic launched these machines on the market I worked for a company who were agents for the company used by Panasonic for the servicing of the new machines. As a result we were invited to Panasonics in Bracknell to examine their new products and were also shown how they came apart to be repaired, should they go wrong. When invited to comment on their wonderful new products they were rather disappointed in our negative views of the construction of these machine which made them almost impossible to repair in the size of kitchens we are usually expected to work in. As an independent repairer I would never go out to one of these machines. As for the repair agents, if Panasonic are using the same company as two years ago, do not expect good service. The technical back up and supply of spare parts that we used to get from that company was dire.
I have a NA-168vx2 which after a only a few weeks was diaplaying the U11 code and also U13. I managed to work it out that it would only take a very small wash otherwise was unable to spin. I had the engineer out after only 3 months which was disappointing and today I have the H43 code. Very shoddy for a machine that does not get that much use. It will be interesting to see what service I get, but have found this website very useful. Many thanks
I hope the following is of use.
U11 indicates machine unable to drain. Blockage between drum and drain pump?? Blockage of drain hose??
U13 indicates unbalanced load. Many modern machines suffer from this, but may be related to problem causing U11 fault.
H43 indicates an internal water leak reaching its detector in the machine base.
Like any washing machine, they are great until they go wrong. The problems are usually related to the after sales service.
Bought a Panasonic washing machine after being assured of their reputation, what a total load of rubbish
sevice is not worth speaking about, machine down now for 4 months, 4 visits by service engineers, never has spare parts, always have to wait for weeks for parts.
Machine is currently broken Again, virtually every part changed and it still doesn’t work.
its had 3 new PCB’s
2 pumps
Motor
now they say another PCB has gone
A company like Panasonic should look after their customer better
The washing machine NA148VA2 have a H43 error code,we have call to dealer but no feedback at moment,
Ringo: This error code was mentioned in a previous comment
Tonight we have had a blocked drain, hoped this might have been what was causing my U13 message on my panasonic washing machine! Cleared the blockage, made no difference to the machine. Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance.
Sickofmywasher: Terry D kindly offered the explanation for U13 error code a few comments back. I can only assume they are accurate. All washing machine brands break down so we can’t necessarily judge an entire brand on experiences of some breakdowns. However, aftersales service and availability of parts and technical information are something I would judge a brand on.
To be fair though both U11 and U13 are by implication not necessarily “proper” breakdowns. “Out of balanced loads”, and “blocked filters” may well be user faults.
U13 indicates an unbalanced load problem. Try the spin cycle with an empty drum to see if you still get the error code. A reason for getting unbalanced load problems can be the type of flooring the machine is sat on. I once went out to a new LG washing machine that refused to spin. The property was a converted barn with a very bouncy suspended wooden floor. The customer was not very pleased that he had purchased a very expensive top of the range washing machine that didn’t like his house. That’s modern electronics for you. Bring back the Zanussi Washcraft!!!!!!
you have put me off buying a new machine
We sell Panasonic washers in our store, and for the last 2 years have had none go wrong….. So far. I agree with what everyone is saying but we also need to consider, how many machines are being sold and how many are actually going wrong. Im not employed by Panasonic so im not being paid to stick up for them, but i do feel i need to point out that i think the amount of actuall brake downs, (not including blocked filters or unbalanced drums) compared to the sales we are saying is very small.
Fingers crossed though non of our customers ever gets a break down.
Thanks for your input Brady. Unfortunately most people tend to have an exaggerated view of the likelihood they will experience problems so the consequence of problems outweighs the odds of having them. The main issue with Panasonic washing machines as I see it is the aftersales and lack of error code technical information. If they get that right they stand a chance of selling a lot more washing machines.
Any views on the 148VG3WGB model?
Sparky… This model is my favourite to sell, with the spec it has it stands as a very good machine, against the sam spec siemens amchines it is a lot less, low energy and water consumption, good 3d sensor for shortening or lengthing wash cycles, very quite too with its brushless motor with 10 year warranty on that. After reading this forum, if it doesnt go wrong it should save you a lot of money for many years to com. its the one i like to sell the most when people are looking at the top half of the market. Hope ive helped.
Washerhelp what are your thoughts on the 148VG3WGB?
Is it sealed tub?
We’ve had the joys of an internal water leak (code not in operating instructions) for the last two weeks…first occurring one month out of warranty! Most repair companies seemingly don’t want to touch them, due to the part acquisition challenges. Guessing it’s only a simple seal / drum seal failure, but this shouldn’t happen on a £500 machine so quickly. Very disappointed.
Sorry, I don’t know if it’s a sealed tub or not Marsh. I personally am not aware of the USP of Panasonic washing machines other than the good name of Panasonic brown goods. I don’t expect they will be any worse than say AEG, but it does appear they have less of an aftersales service network including parts and technical support availability.
I have worked on a number of Panasonic machines (as an independant) and am not overly impressed..
The tubs are NOT sealed, but it is a major task to get the drum out of the cabinet – everything does come apart but is very time consuming and awkward to get to a lot of things.
As the drum is not sealed it is possible to strip it, but due to virtually no-one stocking spares for these then it’s a bit of a pointless exercise as even though the bearings will most likely be standard bearings I can imagine the seals will be specials that are not available – unless they come out OK and can be re-used
I have come across quite a lot of these with noisy / siezed bearings around 1-2 years old – usually the 8kg 1600 spin ones are the worst for this..but not tackled any bearing jobs yet – simply recommended they purchase a new machine…
The machines on a whole are well made and fairly rubust, but are let down by the lack of service back up, no fault codes from the manufacturer or any techical back up – there are a lack of spares available (as in I can’t get any pattern parts – only very expensive, limited genuine parts online) which often makes repairs uneconomically viable due to cost and availability of parts – also there are only certain parts available – not everything is listed.
The other ‘design faults’ on these are – there is poor access into the machine – especially to change the door gasket – that is a very common problem in not very old machines or to access the door interlock parts that are also very flimsy – especially in customers small kitchens – they are very time consuming to work on (time is money to an engineer) – especially as you have to often ‘guess’ the fault code.
Generally speaking the fault codes beginning with ‘U’ are user errors – lack of water, blocked pipe, front filter not screwed in properly etc. and the ‘H’ faults are generally faults which may or may not be repairable by an engineer – H43 being the most common one – which is (as previously mentioned) the flood sensor in the base of the machine – indicating there is a leak somewhere internally (normally the door gasket with a small hole in ) so closes the machine down until it’s been dried up and the leak found & recified.
The other main fundemental floor in the design of these that i’ve found is that they suffer from ‘blocked sumps’ – the sump on these is made of plastic (on the bottom of the drum where the plunger goes into) – unfortunately these are glued onto the drum and are virtually impossible to remove without breaking them (and you can’t buy new ones) – on the ones I’ve managed to remove i’ve been able to get socks and tea towels out from inside the drum to sump hole where they have become firmly lodged – if you empty the water out of the machine and it only removes a little of the water from the drum at a time, the filter and internal pipes are clear, the plunger assembly is removed from the sump (the motors on these go wrong as well) and it still doesn’t empty properly – then there is a 99% chance that the sump is blocked and it’s time for a new washer (unless you are lucky enough to break the seal on the glue, remove the sump, clear the blockage and re-glue it back in place) – not a job for the DITY-er and is only done on the understanding that if it breakes then the washer needs replacing (unless someone can source parts somewhere).
I would not personally recommend a Panasonic washer to anyone on the basis of when it goes wrong (which it will – eventually) it is not easily repairable- if at all – if Panasonic want their machines to be recommended by engineers it will need to be a lot more helpful to the service industry, providing fault codes, technical advice and release copyright on the spares so can be marketed by aftermarket companies at sensible prices (£46.99 for door interlock is VERY expensive – compared to one for a Hotpoint WF machine at around £6) or bring their spares prices down and let independant retailers stock them
Having said all of this when the machines are working they are very good washers and if they could sort a few design hiccups (they may have on the new mk III machines – not worked on these yet) and sort the service side out then i’m sure they could compete much more widely on the market with more independant retailers wishing to stock the machines & parts (as of now no-one I know will touch them with a bargepole – as the poor aftermarket (both in & out of warranty) leaves them with frustrated costomers and can well do without the hassle)
I hope these comments are useful – and are my personal opinions and findings and are meant for information only
I think Davey Boys comments says it all. When we were shown these machines at Panasonics in Bracknell the machines were stripped down to a point where the drum could be removed. We naturally then asked about bearings/seal removal and replacement. We were told that the bearing assy had a design life of ‘x’ hours and would never need replacing, so dont worry about them. We told them that THEY should be concerned about them. Obviously they chose to ignore us.
My own thoughts on this is that manufacturers in the far east are not aware of the hard water conditions in large parts of this country. When we first started having problems with bearing failures on LG washing machines we were supplied with complete tub assemblies. This did not last very long as they soon found out how expensive this solution was and we were soon supplied with the rear tub shells only. Of course, until you stripped the machine you did not know whether you needed the drum cross-piece as well.
To back up this theory I remember being told by Fisher & Pykel that all southern hemisphere countries have soft water, which caught them out with their original dishdrawers.
Thanks for your contribution Terry and Davy Boy, it’s good to get views from people in the trade too.
I bought my panasonic NA16VX1WGB from John Lewis, It cost £529, it lasted me nearly 2 years,then just before the holidays packed up with an H43 code. The engineer from panasonic came and said it was leaking badly from the drum as he watched. He said that I needed a new one. The John Lewis lady phoned to say that Panasonic were sending an engineer to fix it, not replace it. I have been without a machine since the middle of Dec. After reading other owners comments I am not very confident about the situation. I was advised to buy this machine by a John Lewis salesman, I AM NOW WISHING I HADN’T and had gone with another Siemans, my last one was 15years old. This was not a cheap machine, I EXPECTED BETTER from both J.Lewis and Panasonic.
By way of clarification, I did not mean to imply that John Lewis were slow in reacting to the problem as we did not inform them until the 3rd January, I am not complaining about the timing, just about my concerns after reading others poor reviews of the same washing machine. My complaint is with John Lewis advice and with Panasonics machine.
worried owner mrs kemp: Under the sale of goods act, they must fix your machine within a reasonable length of time otherwise I would request a refund or replacement.
I am considering buying this model and wondered if some of the previous problems may have been resolved by now. Does anyone have any information on this model please.
Frankly, my opinion on all the brown goods manufacturers who decided brown goods aren’t enough and want to be big in white goods too, is that there were already plenty of well established brands of washing machine and white goods appliances on the market. Therefore, if more brands come onto the market they need to be different enough to justify their existence.
Most appear to have decided to try the innovation club, but I believe they need to be more reliable than existing brands and/or have a superior aftersales service so that people can buy with confidence knowing they should last a reasonable time and be easily repairable. Sadly they have the innovation but not the backup of good aftersales. As discussed before, many independent repairers don’t repair them because it’s too difficult to get parts and technical information and they don’t appear to have well established, strong in guarantee service networks.
I purchased a Panasonic NA-147VB3 in November 2011. All went well until the first week in January 2012. I contacted the retailers who notified the manufacturers. After almost three weeks, the engineer fitted a replacement circuit board. The reason for the delay was a lack of parts. The machine broke down again on January 11th! After removing sopping wet clothes out of the drum and mopping up water from the floor, I contacted the retailers again.
I have spent today, the first day of my week’s holiday, waiting for phone-calls. The retailer have informed me that they hope this second malfunction can be repaired in a ‘reasonable’ time. However, they would not say what they considered a ‘reasonable’ time to be!
It is with wry humour that I re-read the letter received from the retailers on the purchase of the appliance stating, ‘ We hope we have satisfied your requirements and that we have done so in a professional courteous manner so you feel happy to visit us again in the future, and are able to recommend us to others in the knowledge that our quality, service and value are more than comparable’.
To date, I have been less than impressed with the quality of my Panasonic Washing Machine purchased from Oldrids of Boston Lincolnshire.
The letter conveys good intentions though if things don’t go well such a letter can be a little inappropriate and provoke an unintended reaction. I don’t know if 3 weeks waiting for a pcb is normal with Panasonic washing machines, all parts, especially ones not commonly used can sometimes have to be ordered and can take a few weeks to come through. However, Panasonic do seem to have a reputation for being difficult to get parts for.
You should have read my previous experiance regarding service and parts.
How a company like Panasonic can let this go on is beyond me
The only thing that customers can do is beware and show their thoughts with their refusal to buy
We do not know how many appliances Panasonic have actually sold in total, and we only ever hear about the faulty ones. I assume there are satisfied customers out there who, of course, we will never hear from. But these machines have started to appear on ebay as ‘spares or repair’, usually with an unrealistically high asking price. I have noticed quite a few with drum bearing failure. While bearings should be of a standard size, any seals are probably not. Has anyone had any success with these??
Hi Jake: I’m trying to be open minded about it, and not assume (as Terry D) said that several people complaining about something proves anything definitive.
But as I’ve said before in my original article, it’s beyond me why brown goods giants like Panasonic, with a fantastic reputation for quality, would want to become embroiled in white goods – especially washing machines – which are completely different in every way. Weight and size (for overseas shipping) is massive in comparison, reliability and aftersales are completely different and far more demanding and expensive to deal with. Plus the white goods product is totally un-sexy so to speak. People hate replacing them and they are usually a distress purchase. Then there’s the saturation in the market, with many well established washing machine brands well embedded in the UK. I don’t see the point in getting involved unless you are selling more reliable and longer lasting appliances. Simply selling very similar washing machines with the Panasonic name on isn’t good enough.
For a Panasonic washing machine to have the same respect as a Panasonic TV or DVD player it has got to be more reliable than Hoover, Hotpoint, Candy, Indesit, Bosch and AEG etc. and I don’t think they are. They are the same or less, so what is the advantage of the Panasonic name?
Just heard from the retailers that the broken machine is to be replaced with a new one on Friday. I hope the second one will have a better track record.
The new machine arrived a day early at the retailers request. The machine has now completed four washes. However the pipe that came with the new machine connecting the mains water to the back of the machine was faulty and leaked! Thank goodness we still had an old pipe that belonged to the Bosch Machine we had before purchasing the first (and last) Panasonic Washer.
Firstly, I don’t think it’s really that fair to imply that Panasonic are new to manufacturing washing machines as they have been making washers for decades in the far east and are a major player in that field out there. In fact, they probably have a lot more history than many established European brands. That aside, my further admiration of them is pretty limited but not due to their overall machine performance…
…almost a year ago we bought a NA-168VX2 from John Lewis and in fairness it has been working absolutely fine and still is apart from during the final spin it has become excessively noisy and has developed a clunking sort of banging noise which shakes the machine to the point that the detergent tray rattles badly inside its housing. Not the ultra quiet machine I had been lead believe. Consequently I raised a fault call with Panasonic.
Now the big problem with logging a fault call with Panasonic is that they sub out their repairs to a company called JTM, who, in turn, then sub it out to local independent repair men. The first time I logged a call with JTM they lost our details, which I found out after calling them back to chase it. Then the second call the engineer called us in the morning of the appointment as expected and said that he’d arrive between 1 and 5pm. That was the last that we heard of him and my wife wasted her time waiting in all afternoon without even a call from anyone. In our case the third party repair was to have been carried out by “0800 Repair” who apparently are a franchise and turn up in a yellow van with a giant screwdriver on its roof.
After all of that obviously my confidence in Panasonic’s warranty and support had rapidly hit rock bottom and the great idea of having a 6 year warranty with them felt like it’s not really worth the paper that it’s written on if any support isn’t actually going to be forthcoming. I work as a support engineer myself and in my field we work by SLA’s and response times, ie, a server outage may have a 20 minute response time. When domestic customer warranties don’t live by those sort of rules then you rely on them just being reliable and competent – which in my experience Panasonic’s support is neither.
After a series of phone calls kicking down doors at John Lewis by starting at their customer care call centre and ending with a director at their head office, they’re going to replace the machine and we’re going back to a Bosch. Although Bosch machines may not be perfect and it will cost me an extra £120 and will only have a 2 year warranty, at least I know that they’re reliable enough and provide a dependable in-house support service that can be counted on.
In summary, my experience has been that they make good machines which are let down badly by the backup of exceptionally poor if not non-existent support. Because of that, unless they up their warranty game significantly I would not consider either buying a Panasonic washing machine again or recommending them.
We used to do appliance repairs for D&G, Connect, N.E.S.N. and JTM Services, and I know who we used to have the most problems with. (See the last comment). I was once sent to the John Lewis store in Reading to look at a faulty Panasonic machine. But it was 6 miles away in their main distribution centre at Theale. So I went to Theale, diagnosed the problem and ordered a new door catch. The part took over 3 weeks to arrive.When I went to fit it I was informed that another repair company had turned up the day before, with the correct part, and the now repaired machine had gone back into store. I never did get paid for that ‘job’. Unfortunately my work college contracted cancer and died 6 months later. The company folded and all the above warranty companies lost one of their top agents. It appears, from quite a few of the comments that have gone before, that standards have slipped somewhat, and probably will continue to do so as more and more of us oldies reach retirement and disappear.
Hello Warranty, what warranty?!
I’ve only said they are new in the UK market. “In the UK their washing machines were only launched in 2009″. I expect their aftersales are much better in their native countries and the far east, but that counts for little here :)
Your summary pretty much paraphrases what I say in my article.
I am amused to see that a Panasonic washing machine has come out top in an energy efficiency test. I can only presume that all their down time is taken into account.