Panasonic PV-VS4820 S-VHS VCR

Knowing that my daughter was feeling lost without her favorite VHS tapes to watch, my Mom purchased a Panasonic VCR for Hannah. The description sounded good. A 4 head VCR with automatic channel programing, automatic clock set and adjustment for daylight savings time, and easy set-up. This VCR claimed to be one with easy set up and convient features. Having automatic channel set by entering your zip code, and it was to automatically set itself up to be viewed on channel 3 also. Not even one switch to flip. What the box neglected to mention was that only a few of these VCRs actually worked.

After disconnecting the older VCR we had (that had been eating our videos.) I connected the new PANASONIC VCR right up. It should have been very simple since all I needed to do was take the two cables I had just unhooked from the old VCR and connect the new VCR to them. And truthfully, that part was pretty easy. The test was to make sure that the Dish Network box still played fine. YEA! It worked. Hannah was now ready to watch one of her favorite bed time movies.

I first programmed the VCR remote to operate our television. This was as easy as it claimed to be. The code for an RCA television was listed in the front of the set up sheet and it worked right off. Now that the remote was set up, I was ready to watch the automatic menu features at work. I pushed the button as directed and waited to see the menu screen come on. Nothing. I tried again, still nothing. I thought that maybe it was just the menu key, so I moved on to let Hannah watch a movie.

I put TOY STORY in for her, pushed play and nothing happened. No big deal, I figured I needed to double check my connections and make sure that the automatic channel set had worked. I pushed the button located on the remote that should have enabled the automatic set up to begin. Again there was no response from the VCR. I re-read the set up directions, and made sure that everything was where is should be. I couldn't find anything that was not connected according to the set up sheet.

After a few minutes of trying to get the tape to play, I decided to call the number provide for customer service. After all, they should be able to tell me what I was doing wrong, and Hannah could watch her tape before bed time still. So I called and got an automated switch board that offered me several choices. I of course chose the one that said push this number if you need help seting up your VCR. Then I listened to a message telling me that the wait time for a customer service representative would be about 2 minutes. Meanwhile I continued to try and figure out the problem myself.

After about 14 minutes a lady finally answered and quickly told me she would be able to help me get the VCR set up and playing in just minutes. "Great", I thought. Now this will be taken care of and I can move on to other things. First she asked me to tell her how I had the VCR connected. I explained to her that I had just disconnected the old RCA VCR and hooked the same cables into the new PANASONIC VCR and I thought it should play that way. She said that it should and I probably had the wires connected backward. Now, while I do not claim to be proficient in things that require technical knowledge, I thought I was able to read the in and out written on the back of the VCR, but I switched the cords anyway. Still nothing.

After that the lady put me on hold and when she came back she asked me how old the TV and Dish box were. They are both still very new and I told her we had them less than a year. She then told me to where to hook the cables up again, (which meant switching them back to the way I had them to start with.) THe only screen that I got was one saying unusable signel.

This lady then told me that I didn't know what I was talking about, that if the VCR cables were connected where she had told me to put them then the VCR would be working fine. Okay, so I checked yet again and told her exactly how it was connected. The lady the told me that I didn't have to lie to her. If I couldn't connect them just tell her the truth so she could help me.

I admit that by the time she had said that I was getting frustrated and very annoyed with her "help". I told her that I do have a college degree, take care of two kids, and can follow directs pretty good. That I did have the VCR connected and I had called her to get help so I would have no reason to lie to her to start with.

At that the woman had the nerve to tell me that she could tell I wasn't willing to let her help me and that I should just pack up the VCR until someone with some skill could hook it up for me. My reply was that I would pack up her PANASONIC BRAND VCR and get another RCA that would work to start with. And today when I returned the VCR to the store the customer service representative there said that she had already processed returns on two of the exact same models today alone. And that she had several returned the past week. All with the same complaint. THEY DO NOT PLAY.

I suggest you avoid these VCR's and PANASONIC should get new customer service rep's before we all boycott their products. Forget the features that would have made the VCR special, such as the rapid rewind system and slow motion play back. I will take just a plain VCR that plays the tapes anyday.