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Philips Electronics North America DVD Consumer Reviews

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Poor Customer Service and Malfunctioning Unit
By -

What an incredibly arduous and ongoing ordeal it has been to simply transfer my 8mm Camcorder tapes to DVD with this incredibly temperamental piece of "technology"! First, Best Buy sells me a 50 pack of DVD+R blank discs at 8x speed made by Memorex; well apparently this DVD Recorder doesn't "like" Memorex (other 8x discs are fine, but not the ones they sell me. Then, when calling Philips customer service to figure out the problem, their best suggestion is to unplug the unit and replug it in! Brilliant!

The item also regularly refuses to eject discs when commanded, and just locks up and won't operate at all. After being frustrated by the unit and the lack of help I received, I gave up for a while and have only recently attempted to complete this task again. Of course now the item is out of warranty, so any help will cost you $15 per problem they advise you on. So I get told that my system needs a firmware upgrade, even though I now do have the "preferred" discs to record on.

Oh, by the way, whenever you watch a commercial movie DVD on this unit, that lovely rectangular blue box shows up in the top left corner of the screen every few minutes, to let you know that the chapter has changed on the DVD (talk about annoying!). Now you can get the firmware upgrade online, but make sure you have a CD-R disc because nothing else will work.

At this point I am so frustrated (there have been about 12 or more 20+ minutes phone calls at this point) I decide that I'll just pay the $30 for them to ship me the upgrade disc. This rep ** felt pretty sure this would fix my problem. After getting the disc, upgrading the system, and trying unsuccessfully to record again, I call back and the rep. tells me that the item is part of their "exchange" program.

Basically that means they admit there are chronic problems with this item, so you can exchange it for a new one at a discounted price (this is the last attempt by the company to make things right, and only done after they have had the model# in a Depot Repair status for a length of time.

After they get so many stacked up at the repair center that they can't handle it or it no longer is a wise financial move for them, they upgrade the status to Exchange. Well the discount price offered for my unit is apparently not available currently. In fact, it probably won't be determined for at least another month, if ever.

Well as luck (hah!) would have it, the agent agrees to transfer me to his supervisor, guess who? **! He also informs me that he is the supervisor for the call center. We go around and around (remember he suggested the purchase of the upgrade which took more of my money and didn't resolve the problem!). When the only thing he could do was to tell me to call back in a month to see if they had an exchange price determined for the item yet, I asked to speak to his supervisor. He flat out refused, repeatedly stating, "That is not an option".

Are you kidding me??? I have NEVER done business with any company that refused to escalate my concern to someone who could help me, especially when the agent I was dealing with was powerless to resolve the situation.

Additionally, in my occupation, I have been a Regional Manager for nearly 10 years. What do I instruct all the sales people in my stores?, "If you can't help resolve their problem, find someone who can, and if the Store General Manager can't help them, give them MY number, and if I can't make them happy, they get my V.P.'s number!

That's something that seems to be impossible for this company to grasp: Take care of your existing customers first. If you don't, you have no business seeking new customers! Philips will never get any more of my money, nor that of any of my friends, relatives, neighbors, or coworkers. Hopefully they won't get yours either. If you need help, YOU'LL BE SORRY!!!

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Philips DVD Recorders aka Complete Junk
By -

I made the horrible mistake of purchasing a DVD Recorder from Philips. At the time (18 months ago), it was their top-of-the-line model. The unit worked for 18 months and then died. I contacted Philips, who advised me to take it to an authorized repair facility. I did so, and was advised by the facility that they see this model all the time, always with the same issue, the part that does the recording constantly fails. I was told that this facility has repaired these units, only to get it back a month or so later with the same problem again.

I purchased the unit new for 750.00. The repair estimate was 400.00, which is the same price as a new unit now. I contacted Philips, requesting that they stand behind their product (since it didn't even last 24 months) and I was told that they wouldn't do anything for me. I assured them that I would continue to purchase high-end electronics in the future, but that they could be sure that I'd never purchase Philips again.

If you want to pay premium prices for electronics and get about a year's use out of them, then be sure to buy Philips. They obviously produce substandard products, and once they have your money, they are completely uninterested in standing behind their products. And if you can find someone in support who can actually speak English, you're doing better than I did, because the only people I ever reached knew about four words of English, usually "I can't help you".

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DVD Player Failed After Couple of Months
By -

I purchased the Philips HDMI DVP 3980/F7 DVD Player serial number KX1C0925823163, manufactured in June 2009. I purchased unit from Target Dept Store. This unit started malfunctioning about 2 months after purchase. It would not play any DVD's. It would only make a clicking sound when you insert a DVD.

So, weeks later I decided to call customer care and spoke to a representative who told me that the unit was out of warranty and that I would have to send it off for repair at my expense. I informed him that the unit is not even 6 months old and it has stopped working. The representative told me there was nothing he could do. So I asked for a supervisor and was told the same thing.

I then asked to get a telephone number to the home office and was told that they did not have such a number. I then asked for an address and was given this address: Philips Consumer Service, PO Box 10313, Stamford, CT 06904.

I am very disappointed in this product. I am shocked at the fact that It did not even last 6 months with very little use, and I do mean very Little use. I see now that Philips is not concerned about the customer, their reputation nor repeat business. I hope that this complaint goes further than my telephone call and letter did. I would like a resolution.

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Philips Electronics North America DVD Rating:
3 reviews & complaints.
Contact Information:
Philips Electronics North America
1251 Avenue of The America
New York, NY 10020-1104
212-536-0500 (ph)
www.philips.com
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