Philips customer service ??

[admin_exported]

After the HDTV 40-42 inch supertest in the recent "what hifi" magazine which i plan to buy on Wednesday, my interest in the philips LCD sets has grown substantialy. I plan to buy a new TV in October so I went to my local TV retailer in Northern Ireland to enquire about the Philips. The salesman at the shop told me that he no longer continues to sell philips in the store, but he could get me the philips I require if i give him the model number. However the reason he does not actively sell philips Tvs any more is because that he has always had trouble with philips customer service. In the past if a customer of his got a fault in their philips tv, apparently the salesman has had to wait up to 6 months for philips to get the TV repaired. As the wait was too long for his customers. the salesman had to often give his customers completely new sets in exchange (which was very nice of him) for their faulty one which ofcourse was not good for his business. I have also read posts that philips customer service often make lot of false promises and cause consumers alot of hassle if something goes wrong with their tv, and leave their customers without a working TV for months. For me this is kind of scary

and has kinda put me off the new philips 9000 series because i am so used to having no problems with my previous televisions. But from researching the new philips sets, they do look really good but I could not cope well with these sort of problems if it was to happen to me. With me spending so much on a new Tv in the near future I would hope that the product would last last me for many years with no problems like my previous sets, with great customer care in the extremely unlucky event that a problem would occur. I dont know if I could risk it if these issues are true with philips customer service. Iv made up a couple questions and would greatly appreciate if some of you smart people could give their opinions on this situation and possibly answer these questions

1) Do the philips TVs break down or have faults, more often than other brands like for examle samsung/sony/panasonic?

2) Is customer service really that bad with Philips

Thanks in advance

sorry for the length

 

[Andy Clough]

There's no particular reason why Philips TVs should be any less reliable than those from other mainstream manufacturers. I've no personal experience of Philips customer service, but we haven't had any major complaints about it here on the Forums as far as I'm aware.

 

[matthewpiano]

As Andy says, there really is no reason why a Philips sets should be any less reliable than any other. The other thing to note is that the manufacturer would rarely get involved with repairs from a customer service perspective. The service you get in the event of something going wrong is actually more down to the retailer. When modern TVs do develop faults they are generally repaired rather than replaced. Pretty much any fault can be sorted fairly quickly on any set by a major brand.

Personally I've always found Philips products to be well made, well designed, and reliable and their TV range has impressed me on several occasions.

 

[Anonymous]

I've noted in other posts that I have experienced a number of 'character issues' for want of a better phrase, relating to the operation of my new Philips LCD. I have also explained how confusing dealing with Philips customer care has been, even though in the end; they have helped out.

Philips produces well made produces, which I believe have good reliability and give a number of years good service. What I experienced was a shadow, 'pillaring' to the left of the screen, I contacted Philips who initially told me to contact the retailer (as it was just over a month old), which I did, the retailer was reluctant to exchange the screen or send out an engineer, preferring to Philips dealt with it. So back to Philips who agreed to look at it as it fell within the first twelve months of the manufacturers guarantee. After numerous discussions with Philips appointed repair centre (Note: who do not repair the sets but evaluate the fault, collect and then send the set back to Philips for several weeks), an engineer visited, did not diagnose a fault but recognised that it was screen noise or 'friction' as he phrased it. Although he recognised it as a problem, he didn't consider it a fault but did suggest that I contact the retailer and ask for an exchange as it was visible (even after some tinkering with settings and levels). Now here come the big hairy but, the retailer isn't interested in exchanging the set because the engineer that visited said that there isn't a problem with the set. What is or isn't a problem???

While I agree with the last post that it is down to the retailer to replace or see that repairs are carried out, it isn't always that easy.

Philips have been helpful if a little slow and confusing with how they have progressed things. So please note that Philips, by their own admission, do repair their televisions within the first twelve months, or so I've been lead to believe...

 

[Anonymous]

It must have been a lot of hassle for you lambechop. I always presumed before hearing about philips customer service that if there was a fault with your tv and it was still under warranty, that the retailer would no questions asked replace the set and replace/repair it quickly.. Im interested to know if there is a large proportion of philips LCD owners that have actually experienced problems with their sets or is it a rare situation? What makes a company stand out from another is their customer care and iv heard a few comments on philips (including from yours lambechops) that it just isnt up to scratch and the retailer seems to not be willing to offer much help with philips tvs. Thanks for the comments so far and please keep them coming

 

[Anonymous]

I remember reading somewhere recently that phillips is stopping making TV's at the end of the year.

 

[Andrew Everard]

I don't think you did. It has made no such announcement.

 

[Dave_]

Bandit 12S:
I remember reading somewhere recently that phillips is stopping making TV's at the end of the year.
Are you not confusing Philips with Pioneer?

 

[matthewpiano]

Retailers cannot shirk their responsibilities to the customer, and I think the vast majority don't. However, if you are getting the sense that a retailer might not provide appropriate after-sales support don't buy from them. There are plenty of other retailers out there.

It always astonishes me. People look at the product itself and the price they are paying but so often fail to take into account impressions of the retailer and the sort of support and after-sales service that might be available. A good retailer who cares about you as a customer can be your strongest ally and support if things go wrong.

 

[Anonymous]

I've had Philips displays for a long time now.

5 in terms of HD & LCD.

The customer service i have had has been good and in fact fantastic on 2 occasions, in terms of replacements and complaints.

 

[Anonymous]

Had the 47pfl8404 for precisely 3 days before it died. It would flash up the Philips logo then just shut down.

Got it straight from Philips via thier online shop- no where else seems to stock the larger, higher end Philips'. Got it picked up on Tuesday. Haven't got the refund yet so just hope that all goes smoothly.

TV number 5 in 6 months will arrive tomorrow. God, I really hope this is the one!

 

[Sizzers]

Philips customer service is not, in fact, Philips customer service, but it is handled at an outsourced callcentre (I know because I work for that company, but at a different site and I'm not directly involved with this particular contract but I do know of the problems).

The problem arises that they do not have the authority to authorise for example, refunds or replacements; that has to be forwarded through to a seperate department within Philips for investigation and and an appropriate decision made. This can of course be quite time consuming with things being lost in translation and complaints being bounced back and forth.This can become even worse if you then escalate this to Philips' internal customer service hierarchy. Customers find their calls, emails, letters just go unanswered; promises and deliveries broken. I am going to be buying a new telly next month which is probably going to be a Philips (although I'm also looking at a Panasonic), and I do have serious trepidation about any future problems, but guess I'll just have to take my chances if I do opt for the Philips.

 

[ElectroMan]

I noticed recently that my local coffee store (they sell coffee & machines etc, not serve it) has a notice in the window saying they can no longer service or repair Gaggia machines since they were taken over by Philips!

 

[Deleted member 2457]

Not good.

I tried asking some questions about tv's in the past and they clearly did not have a clue, just yes or no to get me off the phone.

 

[Sizzers]

That's true. Problem is Philips "C/S" don't know that! @ ElectroMan