Problems with Panasonic

[10speed]

A little over a month ago I brought a new car, a 2001 Toyota Runx. Great little car, love it. The only problem was that, as a Japanese import, it had a japanese sterio. As I have never brought a car as new as this before I decided to splash out a bit and get a dvd headunit.

The car yard got in touch with Redwoods Autoelectrical in Manukau city, who recommended this panasonic to me:

• website http://www.panasonic.co.nz/cq-vd6503w4.html
• screenshot in case the website changes http://forums.freeriden.co.nz/files/panasonic.png

This is where the problems start. The website (when I saw it at least (see screen shot)) clearly lists the headunit as having ipod control and bluetooth car kit. Unfortunately these arn't included despite what the site claims.

Panasonic have offered to give me a bluetooth car kit, however I need to cover installation costs myself (another $155), this still leaves me without ipod controls and a further $155 out of pocket.

Any thoughts on what approach I should take? This has all ready dragged out over a month, and to be honest I am over having Panasonic product in my car I am considering asking for my money back, citing the Fair Trading Act. Though I suspect this would also be problematic as Redwoods would then be out of pocket due to thier installation costs (not that it is, strictly speaking, my problem).

[10speed]

well just had a 15 mintue phone call with the product manager - who kept arguing that installation costs are separate to what he sells and what the site advertises....

but eventually he saw my point of view - after mentioning writing a letter to the commerce commission detailing my position... he says he will call Redwoods and arrange free installation of ipod controls and blue tooth...

I will keep you posted...

btw it looks like they have updated thier site

[Jazza]

Good job. No point taking the lower standing because your afraid youll hurt their feelings. Be rough, tough and rip out every right you have

[10speed]

It is a little disappointing that a large 'reputable' company like panasonic tries it on like this. I understand everyone makes mistakes, but you should stand up and do what is required to fix the problem once they are discovered.

The fact that the product manager kept arguing until I mentioned the commerce commission seems to indicate he knew from the get go what my rights were and what the correct solution to the problem was, but he would have been willing (and in fact actively pursued) letting me lose on the deal.

Its a shame really, I have brought a number of high end Panasonic products over the years and have had no problems with the products themselves however I will not be buying another one now that I know how supportive the company is...

[Blackrazor]

Every single headunit brand on the market would have tried exactly the same thing, so i wouldnt get too pissy. In fact, most of them wouldnt have even caved in - the way they worded the online advertising didnt preclude it requiring any addition bits. If they'd said 'inbuilt ipod control' you would have had a leg to stand on, but as it is now, the only reason you got a result is the Panasonic guy came through.

So in short, dont get pissy with Panasonic over it, they've gone above the call of duty.. If you'd tried that same scenario with Pioneer, Alpine or Sony, they would probably have just laughed, and been within their rights to

P.S I'm not saying i agree with that stance, in fact i think its piss poor. But, and this is the important bit, it would be LEGAL Trust me, the Commerce Commision has a lot more holes in it than you think. The touch stone for whether you can claim is if they did something DELIBERATELY. If they deliberately put those things on the site, you could do them. If not, they could just claim it rightfully as an accident, and the wording was ambiguous enough (for example, 'can control an iPod' is not the same as 'connects directly to iPods' ) for them not legally even be obliged to do what they have done for you. So yeh, dont get pissy at them, because the only reason you got a resolution is because of their goodwill gesture

[10speed]

Interesting point of view but I completely disagree , sure there are holes in the fair trading act but I dont believe they are that large. If you look at the screen shot those extras are listing along side all the other features. If your argument was taken to the nth degree Panasonic could have sold me an empty box...

should I need to check that it really has an am/fm tuner, a touch screen but ipod control and bluetooth are some how different?

and btw I dont think asking for something you were 'told' a product comes with is pissy

and as a side note I know of a restaurant that recieved a very large fine for having an out dated menu on thier website...

[10speed]

The touch stone for whether you can claim is if they did something DELIBERATELY. If they deliberately put those things on the site, you could do them.

The wording in the act would only excuse this if it was an unavoidable accident. And a typo/lack of proofing is certainly avoidable. Unavoidable would be if someone had hacked thier site and made this change

[Blackrazor]

You can beleive what you want, but i have a mate who had almost exactly the same problem, took the importer to the Commerce Commission, and lost miserably. It was almost word for word what you're claiming on, except in his case the headunit ad was in a newspaper and one of the listed features was 'CD Changer'.

If you doubt me, try it out