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. So people are naturally interested in their washing machines and wonder if they are just as good. I’m a fan of the Panasonic brown goods brand.
I 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, so there’s not much of a track record on white goods yet compared to other brands that have been making washing machines here since the 50s.
It’s highly likely they will be striving to carve an equally good reputation for white goods but white goods are completely different from brown goods.
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 a lot of information about Panasonic washing machines which you should check out before buying.
Panasonic 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.
After-sales service is important
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 after-sales 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 after-sales is a vital consideration when buying appliances likely to require some repairs in the future unless you are happy to just get as long as you can out of something (with fingers crossed) and throw it away when it breaks down. My personal preference is to buy washing machines where the manufacturer have their own engineers in this country to repair them under guarantee. Panasonic are like all the brown goods brands in that they do not have their own engineers. They instead use third-party networks of repairers and this in my opinion is far less satisfactory.
Spares
Spares4Appliances is a spares company run by repair engineers who understand all about spare parts for appliances.
I’m very interested in how this will all pan out.
I’ve ordered a 127VB3WGB from Comet earlier this evening.
I’ve also got a voucher that is apparently covering 5 years parts and labour warranty for the machine.
Paid £399 for it from Comet.
Have I done the right thing buying this machine or should I gone cheaper and bought a beko….
I have just purchased the same model today and I must say I’m starting to panic. How do you rate your machine?
Panasonic viewed their machines as competitors to Miele. We viewed them as up against Bosch and LG. If they are now selling them at less than £400 I think that confirms our original take on them. Astroboy may consider getting a cheap Beko and keep in store for use while he waits for his Panasonic to be repaired, when it goes wrong.
I’ve never heard of anyone comparing Panasonic to Miele Terry. As you say they are just in the same build class as all the others in their price range.
I was delivered a 148VG3WGB this morning and did the test wash as recommended. Half way through the 1 st wash I got a error code H43. Contacted Panasonic as the booklet says they are open on Saturdays, but no answer. The website says they are shut on Saturdays.
Phoned Comets Helpline at 10pence a minute and after a long wait I was told that its a products fault and they have to exchange the product. After spending a good while to install and set it up, I now have to go through the same process wasting time again. Comets refused to install this despite it delivering a faulty product.
The are however quick to sell their extended warranties to get our money. Big frauds. As for Panasonic its a big let down for such a reputed company. Very very dissapointed and frustrated.
I suggest people read information on consumers’ rights and Acts. This info certainly helped me when I recently had problems with my Panasonic Washing Machine,
I have washing machine and appliance consumer advice and links
On a more informative post I have managed to track down some error codes for Panasonic washers !!!!!!!!!!!!!
These are courtesy of ukwhitegoods.co.uk but thought I would re-post here to ‘widen the audience’ – I was pleased to stumble across them and i’m sure others will also find them useful…
U11
The washing machine cannot drain
Check that filter is not blocked or obstructed
Check drain hose is clear of any blockage or obstruction
Check wiring to drain pump
Check drain pump is not defective
Check level sensor or switch
Check wiring to level sensor
U12
The door is being read as being open
Check door is closed
Check doorlatch etc.
Check door lock
Check wiring
Check electronic controller
U13
An unbalanced load is detected in the washing machine
Check load, sort and restart spin
Check belt if fault persists
Check motor if fault persists
U14
Washing machine fails to fill in twenty minutes
Check mains water pressure
Check inlet hoses for kinks
Check inlet filter
Check water inlet valve
Pressure switch fault
Wiring fault
U18
Pump or drain filter detected as being not secure
Check that filter is secure
Check wiring if fault persists
H01
Pressure sensor or level switch detected as out of range
Check wiring to level sensor
Check pressure switch is not defective
Replace pressure sensor
Replace main power PCB
H04
Short circuit detected on the power relay of the main electronic control board
Check wiring
Replace electronic control PCB
H05
Data not being saved to the electronic controller
Check wiring
Replace electronic control PCB
Check mode B in service mode
H07
Tacho generator signal from motor irregular or out of range
Check wiring to motor tacho
Check motor wiring
Replace motor
Replace electronic control PCB
H09
Communication error between power and display electronic cards
Check wiring between the electronic cards
Check electronic controllers
After this there is no option but to replace either or both cards as it is not possible to acertain which one is faulty on these washing machines.
H17
Wash thermistor or temperature sensor detected abnormal signal or out of range
Check wiring to temperature sensor
Check temperature sensor
Replace temperature sensor
H18
Motor thermistor sensor detected abnormal signal or out of range
Check motor connections
Replace motor
H21
Pressure sensor detects water level increasing from water supply
Clean the diaphram of water inlet valve
Check inlet valve operation
Repalce water inlet valve
H23
Heater relay on main control PCB detected abnormal or out of range
Check electronic controller
Replace main power electronic card
H25
Motor error detected
Check wiring to main motor
Replace motor
Replace power electronic card if problem persists
H27
Door lock on the washing machine will not engage with latch in place
Check wiring to door lock
Check door lock
Replace door lock
Replace main electronic controller if problem persists
H29
Cooling fan detected as running slow, abnormal, short or open circuit
Check wiring and connector to the cooling fan
Replace cooling fan
Replace main electronic controller if problem persists
H41
During spoin data cannot be obtained from 3D sensor
Check wiring to 3D sensor
Replace 3D sensor
Replace main electronic controller if problem persists
H43
Leak detected to base of the washing machine
Check for source of the leak
H46
Abnormal signal from leak detector in base of the washing machine
Check wiring to sensor
Check sensor
Replace main electronic controller is advice from Panasonic
H52
Too high input voltage detected
Check mains electricity supply as this is caused by abnormal mains
H53
Too low voltage input detected
Check mains electricity supply as this is caused by abnormal mains
H55
Abnormal current detected while the main motor is rotating
Replace main drive motor
I have recently had to report my panasonic 168vx2 for the 4th/5th time in less than 18 months. Not impressed, it is repeatedly the same U13 code. It seems that the machines are not powerful enough to gather momentum for the spinning. It had been occurring intermittently , I would usually take most of the wash out and spin it as very small loads. (defeats the object of having the bigger drum size) In the end it would not spin at all- the bearings were gone. Very poor service from Panasonic, giving me an appointment for a 2 man call out nearly 3 weeks away!
Failure to respond to calls even when they committed to ring me back on the same day. I got John Lewis involved and they eventually sorted it that the machine be returned and money credited. I will not choose another Panasonic but will buy again from JL- excellent customer service
magsjags: I agree about John Lewis customer service being generally far better than most, which is why I promote them so much and use them myself.
Washing machines not spinning small loads is actually a common modern-day issue and all washing machines have this “problem” to certain degrees. Some are worse than others, and it’s possible your washer does has a fault on the out of balance protection system – or maybe even that Panasonic washing machines are particularly (over?) sensitive. However, it’s worth reading the article I wrote on this very topic because depending on the loads in question it’s possible a new washing machine could give similar problems – washing machine wont spin just one item or very small loads
as i am now reparing panasonic washing machines for a living , and being a washing machine engineer for 35 years
i have never worked on such adulterated crap in my life ,poor design, not engineer friendly, very time consuming for fixing simple faults, heavy ,akward, parts very expensive ,and have never met so many unhapply customers in my life,it may keep me in work ,but i may go out of business very soon because the time they take to repair , removing a coin from the drum is a three hour job , then customer refuses to pay you and so do panasonic,do not buy this crap