FZ10 repair needed

[CTPhil]

Hi, I'm brand new here, this is my first post. I bought a FZ10 about 3 months ago, and I love it. But yesterday I did something incredibly stupid when downloading some pictures. I accidentally grabbed the AC coverter from my slide scanner thinking it was the one for the camera, plugged it in, and now the camera is dead. I don't think it's the battery, it seemed to charge normally.

Should I send it back to Panasonic? Try someone locally? Is this likely to be an affordable repair or is a nearly new camera now junk?

Any help is deeply appreciated, I can't believe I did this.

Thank you very much.

[RedHouse]

Looks bad. Use Panasonic not some local dude. Could be major if you fried the electronics inside.

[CTPhil]

RedHouse wrote:

Looks bad. Use Panasonic not some local dude. Could be major if you fried the electronics inside.

I was afraid of that.:sad:

[jazzmaster221]

bummer dude..welcome to the club,,,.note to self be careful

[WOtey]

Hi there, I just got my FZ10 back from being repaired by Panasonic. It was under the last part of the warranty so the labor charge was $89.00. If it is out of warranty the labor charge is $139.00 and then they charge you for the parts. I had to send it to Panasonic's outsource repair service called Valutech which is in Calexico, California (basically in Mexico). You could call them and see if they can give you an idea on the phone of the cost.

They do not speak English very well, so there seems to be a communication difficulty, I had to repeat several calls to make sure they were doing what I asked. If you send it in make sure you insure it and enclose a letter explaining what the problem is. My repair was relatively simple, they had to replace a button on the back and I asked them to check the focus, which I think they did. Their phone number is 1-866-879-4555 don't worry if you get a message saying call back, I just kept redialing and eventually got through. They are the now the only place in the country that does digital still cameras for Panasonic. It took about three weeks to get it back.

Have you tried taking the battery and card out for several hours and then try agin. You could also try the reset, or maybe you have already tried all that. I was somewhat disaapointed with the quality of the service, I think the repair job itself was ok, but it was frustrating during the process as they are hard to get hold of and also very hard to make yourself understood soemtimes.

I hope it works out for you - did you get any kind of extended warranty?

Wendy

[CTPhil]

WOtey wrote:

Have you tried taking the battery and card out for several hours and then try agin. You could also try the reset, or maybe you have already tried all that. I was somewhat disaapointed with the quality of the service, I think the repair job itself was ok, but it was frustrating during the process as they are hard to get hold of and also very hard to make yourself understood soemtimes.

I hope it works out for you - did you get any kind of extended warranty?

Wendy

No, I didn't try taking the battery and card out, but I will!

Yes, I got a 5 year extended warranty, but I don't know if it covers stupidity.

Thanks all for the responses and for making me feel welcome! I think I'm going to like it here.

[jsiladi]

WOtey wrote:

Hi there, I just got my FZ10 back from being repaired by Panasonic. It was under the last part of the warranty so the labor charge was $89.00. If it is out of warranty the labor charge is $139.00 and then they charge you for the parts. I had to send it to Panasonic's outsource repair service called Valutech which is in Calexico, California (basically in Mexico). You could call them and see if they can give you an idea on the phone of the cost.



Wendy

Are you saying the ELgin Illinois location on the website

http://www.pasc.panasonic.com/WhereT...rNS.asp?Pass=5

AND in the manual are no good??

Jeff

[WOtey]

Jeff & CTPhil,

They just changed the repair facility today to Elgin Illinois. When I needed my camera fixed last month the only choice I had was Calexico. I just looked at the Panasonic web site and it is back to Elgin Illinois. The only thing I can think of is they tried the outsourcing route and it didn't work well so they have gone back to Illinois. I even called Elgin before I sent my camera to Calexico and they said at the time (a month ago) that they no longer repaired digital still cameras there.

Wendy

[CTPhil]

Thanks for the update, Wendy. I tried what you said, no go. I guess it's fried.

[jsiladi]

WOtey wrote:

Jeff & CTPhil,

They just changed the repair facility today to Elgin Illinois. When I needed my camera fixed last month the only choice I had was Calexico. I just looked at the Panasonic web site and it is back to Elgin Illinois. The only thing I can think of is they tried the outsourcing route and it didn't work well so they have gone back to Illinois. I even called Elgin before I sent my camera to Calexico and they said at the time (a month ago) that they no longer repaired digital still cameras there.

Wendy

That's sure a fast changeback.. You said you were overall satisfied with the work, I wonder why they pulled out?? Then again, If I can talk to an English speaking American about my Asian product, I'm always happier about that.. Have you tried calling a computer customer support line lately?? The manual Does state -- as of some month in 2003 --(the month escapes me at the moment and the manual isn't near by).. I would think though that they would keep the web info up to date.. Everyone does that right?? :roll:

I just hope I don't ever need to find out... Good luck CTPhil, it'd be a shame if you couldn't get it working again..

Jeff
:O