I'm totally frustrated.

About 11 months into my first Pronto remote (TSU3000), I lost the touchscreen - went blank and couldn't recover it no matter how many firmware upgrades, resets, etc. I went through. Functionality was still there, though. If you remembered where the buttons were, they worked fine.

So...I contacted Philips customer service, and after a LONG time on the phone with them, they agreed I had a unit that was under warranty and that we could begin the process to remediate. They instructed me that I would have to send the unit into them, they would get it and process the request, and send a new unit out to me "right away". That speedy process was going to take 10-14 days. Totally unacceptable for those of us running big $$$ worth of home electronics with their pricey little remote. That, however, is not what REALLY got to me.

I looked in my original packaging for my Pronto, and I found a sheet titled "Limited Warranty". On that sheet, the procedures are spelled out clearly on how warranty issues with the Pronto should be handled. Under the section that says "To get warranty service in the USA, Puerto Rico, or US Virgin Islands...", I quote:

"If service is required, arrangements will be made to ship a replacement unit. Upon receiving the replacement unit, return the original product needing service to Philips in the packaging provided with the replacement unit. If the original product is not returned within 14 days of shipment of the replacement or exchange product, the customer will be billed the retail price of the product. Prior to shipping a replacement unit, arrangements (e.g. credit card number) must be made for payment of the replacement product in the event that the product needing service is not returned."

Now, if you read that the way I do, that is the polar OPPOSITE of what Philips says their policy is. No one in the call center knew anything about this sheet or this policy, and even after I faxed it to them they never acknowledged having seen it before. One manager-type there tried to give me the "we changed our policy recently, that message is no longer in the packaging" story, but it didn't seem credible. In the end, I ultimately wasted those 10 days anyway trying to get their "escalation desk" to honor this process...and I ended up sending my unit in first. Oh well. That was about 2 months ago.

So, the replacement unit gets to me, and guess what's in the package? The SAME "Limited Warranty" sheet with the SAME policy spelled out...that they won't honor.

It gets better - the replacement unit that they sent me - obviously a refurbished unit from the looks of the packaging inside and out - has never worked correctly since the day I got it (was losing button funcitonality and calibration sporadically), and it finally locked up last week and will not complete the calibration process at all. Dead in the water.

So, I'm back in touch with Philips customer service, and not only are they telling me the same thing - no unit until I send the broken one to them - they are saying that technically I'm outside of warranty on the first unit and they have no authorization to send me a replacement! Unreal.

It's in the hands of the "Escalation Desk", who the call center folks are afraid to call directly, and they review requests for exceptions to policy in...you guessed it "7 - 10 business days!!!". I'm done with syrupy sweet call center folks who can't help me.

Has anyone else had any problems with Philips like this? Can anyone recommend a way around the process that has worked for them? At this point, I have such a bad taste in my mouth about doing business with Philips, I feel like trying to get a refund and spending my money with another company.

Indeed I have had the same problem, see [Link: remotecentral.com] (if that doesn't take you there, it's only a page or so behind this page right now) - it's just the EL backlight for the hardbuttons has become so dim - almost not there. I'm a few weeks 'til NO warranty.

However, according the Canadian call center folks answering to a company name I couldn't understand, they had to flip through volumes of documents to figure out what a TSU-7000 was, told me quite bluntly, "YOU HAVE NO WARRANTY." The went on to tell me it's over 90 days old so that's that. I then had to read to them the warranty in the box and tell what I paid for it and where it came from. With 30 minutes in 2 sessions each of unpleasant conversation and being put on hold a dozen times, I was finally given a case # and RMA#. I'm very mistrustful of Philips and their "refurbished" policy, and asked on this board for other experiences, and really got none. Emailed Daniel Tonks and he didn't know if it was a good idea to send it in or not. 10 days to two weeks, I was told, before I'd see a replacement remote.

It blew their minds that there was a separate backlight on the hard buttons, that was about 10 minutes of on hold "research" time; followed, of course, by "why can't you just turn the light level up" (as in the light levels for the LCD panel). Had to explain one had nothing to do with the other.

I'm going to do nothing, though almost a year old this remote hasn't a scratch, and I don't want someone else's discard. I thought my postings might bring forth more "personal experiences" with sending things back and the condition of the refurbished units received.

So much for "international company Philips." I still like my TSU-7000 but there will be brand change when it gives up. I'd feel differently if I could have talked to anyone with any clue on what 1) a Philips remote was, 2) the warranties that must be honored, and 3) just a little not-all-that-technical info about the product. Not any more in the "call center!"

Bill Halvorsen

Ouch. That's what I was afraid of.

Guess I need to button the chin-strap...this one's going to be painful. I'm now technically a month out of my warranty (even though the first problem was never resolved IN the warranty period), and I am living proof that your skepticism of the Philips refurbished policy is well founded. My remote didn't have a mark on it, and the one I got back not only hasn't worked, it looks like it's been dropp kicked a couple of times. Even has a crack in the lower right corner of the touchscreen.

Hope someone can provide some experience that is better than either you or I have seen so far...

Philips Service and Hotline is not real usefull!

Update on my situation. Just got off the phone with the first line of defense at the Escalation Desk, and they got back their appeal answer. They did agree to give me an RS and RMA # for replacement of the unit, but they got back the standard "ship yours first, then wait 10-14 days for us to send one to you...no guarantees" answer from the Ivory Tower that handles the appeals process.

I pressed, and said that given the fact that I'm holding what amounts to a contract statement by Philips to the consumers who purchase this product, I need to speak to someone about why they won't honor or even acknowledge the policy that is stated in the original packaging with the unit.

I have an "appointment" to call back to the call center tomorrow at 9AM EST, and they are supposedly going to connect me with a live person in the group that makes these decisions. It's amazing the level of protection they seem to have - you CANNOT call them or contact them directly, and the agents that you are able to speak to in the call centers CLEARLY have a fear of ticking these folks off. I have my doubts as to whether or not I'm going to be able to speak to anyone tomorrow or not.

We'll see. I hate this - it is time consuming, and it is total negative energy. No one needs to go through this...

Keep you posted.

Here's how I went about getting service for my Pronto 3000. I'm in the Montreal area, so Philips may operate differently in Canada than the US.

I had called Philips to get a local Philips number, called it and it answered "Philips" although it's actually a firm called ElectroTech that does servicing for Philips in Montreal. Got off the phone, drove 20 minutes, they changed the whole board on the spot (it was under warranty), I got to keep my housing and that was it. I spent gas, but saved on shipping charges and insurance.

Morale of the story: you may not have it as easy as I did, but what have you got to loose? 15 days of wait time? Give it a try, find a local number in your area.

These forums are rife with similar stories. As an end consumer, you have very little clout with Philips. A friend of mine, a Philips dealer, says even he doesn't get much support from Philips, and he claims he sells several million $ worth of Philips gear.

Consumer electronic companies have notoriously bad customer service in my experience. Philips is not alone. Try getting help from Sony, Thomson, Pioneer or Samsung if you want to experience real frustration.

I recently bought a relatively expensive piece of equipment from Best Buy. Naturally, the salesman tried to get me to buy its warranty. When I demurred, the salesman said, "If something goes wrong, don't expect any help from the manufacturer even though it warranties the product for a year. They won't even answer the phone." Perhaps overstated in the heat of the sales process, but I'm confident he was at least partly correct.

I had problems with a Pioneer Elite receiver that cost several thousand dollars and was under warranty. When Pioneer's repair center couldn't fix it, I had to get a newer model and pay a $500 price differential because my receiver was no longer being produced.

Consider yourself lucky to get any positive response from Philips. One of these days, a company like HP or Dell is going to come out with a competitive product. Then you might have an opportunity to see what decent customer serice is like.

Latest:

Had my "appointment" today with someone from inside the castle walls. Turns out, they listened, asked me to fax in the Limited Warranty sheet that ships with EVERY SINGLE UNIT out there (that's the 3rd time I've faxed this in), and then she promised to....review my case and get back to me. Uggh. Oh, to get to a decision maker....

She made it very clear that she wasn't the one to make decisions on these types of exceptions to policy, but that she would do her best and get back to me.

The saga continues.

I've offered to pay the expense of shipping my unit back FedEx early delivery to them, AND give them a credit card number to cover the cost of the replacement unit, if they would agree to send me a unit ASAP. We'll see.

Eureka!!!

I don't know what cracked the code, but I got a call back from the representative in the Knoxville Escalation Center for Philips, and she said that they would honor the warranty sheet that I have "even though it is no longer in effect", and she supposedly is sending me out a unit today overnight. I, in turn, have overnighted the defective replacement unit back to her, so perhaps at about this time tomorrow we should be done. I'll post an update then.

Interesting footnote, she asked me to send the remote directly back to her and not to the general Philips address. She said she didn't want the policies to be confused, which seems to mean that she didn't want anyone in the first and second line centers knowing that Philips would honor the Limited Warranty that is shipped with the device.

Didn't see the need to go into any discussion about the fact that product is shipping today that has the same Limited Warranty included inside.

We'll see what happens.

I think, it's time to try out other LCD-Touch panel Remotes, that come out on the market. Why I need a Philips Pronto?
- Philips isn’t intressed to fix bugs; you come only to the first level support that isn’t competent. I Say: Learning codes don't work with RU980, TSU7000 in relationship with RCS 16 IR-Code, the answer use the Code from build in Database, and I answer that the Database Codes don't work with my Grundig VCR, and the new answer from Philips is: learn that code! - E-Mail contact or call with Philips is wasteful! I think its better Philips closed the Pronto Hotline. On phone call I say the learned Code from RU980 work only with my old RU 970, not with the new one, Philips say: that is a function from Codegraber, I say and now? answer: no Bug fix in the future about RCS 16 Code! That is a real fine Brand - I hate PHILIPS now forever. I hope other Brands build a better one in the future.
And I’ am not alone, many IR-Protocols can't learn successful: Kathrein, Dreambox, D-Box2 and many others. New is my Problem about RCS 16: The NG learned that code correctly, but it can't that transmit right! - A real bug about 7000'er Hex codes and no reaction from Philips!

Show that Thread: [Link: remotecentral.com]

Very frustrated (for only 800 € ~ 1100 USD)

Hagen Schütte

I do have to lament the obvious change over the last year from customer service to the typical moronic call center antics talked about here. The real kicker is the warranty - they choose not to honor - because I guess someone neglected to put it in their call center references? Fax them our warranty sheets? Screw that.

When I first bought the TSU-7000 a year ago I had a couple questions and did call their tech support number (yes, not a call center, it was obvious) and the reps I spoke to knew the remote inside and out, and offered RMA's if I continued with the problem (used to lock up, or should I say fail to wake up, but s/w patches have eliminated that entirely).

I don't know how, but someone needs to punch through the idea to Philips that this game of "we don't know your remote, we don't know your warranty either, and we're making up stuff on the fly" won't fly. Daniel?

The remotes competitive with ProntoPro NG are the MX-3000 and Sony Navitus. I hear that support for the MX-3000 is great and from Sony basically non-existent. Neither product has anywhere near the scope of information on it that is available on the Remote Central Pronto forums. SO - - although the manufacturer may not do a good job of supporting its own products, the unaffiliated support for Pronto is unmatched by any other product.

Daniel and RC are the reason why I stuck with the Pronto line when I upgraded from my 2000 to the 7000 and the 3000.

Mark

Sony ist the fisrt on my hate list. I never buy any sony or philips product in the future!

Thursday Update: Nothing yet from them, but my package was delivered...halfway home, I suppose.

My additional 2 cents: I agree with the posts here that the issue of customer satisfaction and customer retention are two seperate topics entirely. I am TICKED at Philips by the way they handle things when it comes to problems with the product, but I LOVE the idea that there is a community of folks out there that enjoys tinkering and customizing their electronics the way I do...i.e. this forum.

When it works, there's nothing cooler than my Pronto, so I think rather than go with another brand that has NO significant user base or even worse customer service than what we're experiencing with Philips, I would still choose to stay with the Pronto line unless I see something shift otherwise.

Still, it irks me when tech companies like Philips can't get it right. I may be oversimplifying, but it doesn't seem like they would have to do too much to get it at a a level that most of us would be happy with. Seems to me that if, in this case, they would just adopt the warranty and exchange policy that is published with the remote, they would save time, customers would be delighted, and at the end they would have spent the same or less money to resolve the issues.

Oh well - my spleen feels better, if nothing else.

Let you all know when it's resolved.