A BIG disappointment, especially coming from Panasonic!
Written: Dec 07 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Multi-featured, excellent sound quality (excluding below complaint), small footprint on desktop
Cons: Conversation "drop outs", buttons overly sensitive to non-exact positioning of finger contact, short talk- time between charges
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| 31775's Full Review: Panasonic KX TC1890 900 MHz 2-Line Cordless Phone |
The purchase of this 2 Line phone with answering machine was made without much investigation due to the fact that I have owned at least 3-4 previous Pana. cordless phones over many years. In fact, I still actively use an older 2-Line Pana. in a different room. I have always been extremely pleased with my above purchases. THIS is the first time I have NOT! Despite some nice features, including Caller ID, Digital Spread Spectrum, dual keypads, backlit 3-Line LCD Display on the handset, built-in answering machine, etc., it has three apparently inherent problems that supercede any of the otherwise fine features. I say "inherent" because I actually purchased locally and returned a second phone, assuming that I had a "bad one", but with no improvement whatsoever.
BOTH exhibited the same faults: #1. First and foremost, I have intermittent, momentary dropouts during my conversations. Much like one experiences sometimes on a cell phone, I might be talking and the phone appears to have suddenly gone dead. I hear nothing, for anywhere from 2 to 8-9 seconds or so! The caller on the other end may or may not sense the dropout in that sometimes they continue to hear me say, "Hello?, hello?". And at other times, they also hear nothing momentarily. It is very disconcerting when this happens and extremely frustrating. Especially when I am on a business call, it is embarrassing to me to have to explain and question the caller about what I just missed. #2. When pressing the number buttons to dial a phone number, if you don't position your finger to hit the button "just so" or "dead center", it often will not register. In other words, if you happen to depress the button at a slight angle instead of directly in the center, it might not "take". You then get no beep feedback and have to disrupt your dialing and hit it again.
#3. Another "incurable defect", in my opinion, is having the 3-line LCD screen on the back/outside of the handset. This causes me at times to have to remove the phone from my ear during a conversation and flip it over to read some information. Example: if I want to see how long I have been talking (keeps track of length of call), if an operator asks me what extension I dialed, if I want to check to see if I dialed the correct number, if I want to identify caller ID on the 2nd line, etc. There have been occasions when I actually missed a few seconds of a call because the person on the other end asked a question when I had to remove the handset from my ear and turn it over for some purpose. Had they designed the LCD display on the inside of the handset (it would be much quicker to look at the screen, then) AND had the handset positioned during charging and waiting for a call so that the inside was facing up on the phone base, this could have resolved this problem, in addition to still allowing one to see the display during caller ID.
#4. Despite claims of approximately 6 hours of talk-time, I averaged only about two, even though I was only 2-3 feet from the base most of the time. #5. This complaint is also terribly disappointing for me: Panasonic has been TOTALLY NON-RESPONSIVE to my complaints! I have spoken, over the last several months, to at least 5 or 6 people in a supervisory position and none of them were willing to do anything other than tell me to mail it in and have it repaired. They refused to accept the return of the phone. Aware that both of the phones had these same problems, I knew it would be a waste of time and a great inconvenience to bother sending it in. These problems are, in my opinion, going to be found on all the phones and are not in the category of something that can be "fixed". Half of the supervisors, from the east coast to the west coast, never even bothered to return my calls left on their voice mails. The attitude was universal: they couldn't care less!
We probably have at least 6-8 Panasonic brand items in our home with very little previous complaints, so I am afraid, based on this current experience over several months, to ever buy a Panasonic brand again. Needless to say, I am returning this phone immediately. I was very lucky and surprised in reaching a very understanding supervisor in the customer service department of the catalogue/online company from which it was purchased (DBL - I highly recommend them for pricing and service!!). It will probably be the last Pana. item I ever buy due to the overwhelming lack of response or concern from so many employees I encountered; it indicates to me that it is a company-wide policy.
I can't comment on the performance of the answering machine because I never used it. We have a separate Pana. answering machine, so I never bothered to set this one up once the problems emerged, sensing that I might eventually have to return it.
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
31775
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Member: Arline K.
Location: Los Angeles, California
Reviews written: 4
Trusted by: 1 member
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