Beware of Philips DVD Recorders and Poor Customer Service

[Anonymous]

A quote from another forum today:

I have officially joined the ranks of Philips brand haters — if there’s any doubt they’re legion, try a Google search.
For some time now, my Philips 985 DVD recorder has only recorded +R discs, didn’t like +RW. I could live with that since I master on +R anyway. Now, however, it has stopped recognizing even the discs it burns itself.

Okay, says I, it had a good run, burned several hundred discs with nary a coaster. Time to retire it and move up to something newer.

Upon investigation, I discover that Philips seems to be the only manufacturer who equips their DVD recorders with component inputs. I want this feature, especially since I spent a hundred bucks to upgrade my SP for component output.

So I buy a brand new, sealed in the box Philips 615/37, and immediately mail in the warranty card. When I hook it up to SP via the component inputs, though, I see that the image is extremely contrasty — I’m losing almost all detail in the blacks. So I upgrade the firmware. No difference. Philips tech support says it’ll need to be sent in…

…but here’s the kicker: even though it’s a brand spankin’ new machine, Philips refuses to honor the warranty because the seller from whom I purchased the unit was not a "certified dealer". Hello?! Since when does that matter?! Has anyone else heard of this?

I’m pissed. Does anyone have any suggestions or, conversely, is anyone in the market for a brand new Philips machine in perfect working order (if you don’t care about the component inputs)?

$150 plus shipping.

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