We went with my folks last Friday to buy our wedding present from them....... a 42" Panasonic Viera Plasma..... Now Curry's have started off a mad rush with certain models as they have lopped chunks off the prices. My folks were getting a 37" plasma (Panasonic TH37PX80B) which was originally £799 but is now £569!!! We were originally going for the Panasonic TH42PX80B which was £899 but had dropped to £649 when we realised the next model up the TH42PZ80B which was in the £1250 region was now £799!!!!! It's full HD rather than being HD ready so we went for that one instead.

Now both the 37" and our 42" were out of stock everywhere so out of the shops we went in we decided to order them from John Lewis as both myself and the folks have had TV's from them in the past and they've been great to deal with etc..... Also their 5 year onsite warranty is free rather being some stupid amount!!!!! The other option was the Panasonic shop which also said they would do the 5 year warranty for free. And then a few others where it worked out a bit more due to paying for the warranty etc.....

So anyway we order the TV's and the guy says he doesn't know exactly when they'll be in but could be Monday the 14th And as they're a big chain etc.... they'll get them the same time as anyone else if not sooner....... I check a few other sites online over the weekend and they also say stock expected 14th July....... I check the same sites Monday morning and they now say IN STOCK..... Great i think.... and go to the JL website expecting the same ready for my call to arrange delivery....... They still show out of stock..... I went over to my folks earlier today and my dad says he's spoken to John Lewis and they reckon they'll have the delivery in the afternoon........ So we wait and wait and call them again about something else at about 5pm and ask again about the plasmas and the guy says erm..... well we don't know when they'll be in. My dad tells him various other retailers have all got them back in stock that same day but it looks like my jinx has struck again and the retailer i pick is going to be the one that takes the bloody longest to get them back in stock!!!!!

Oooooh well i oughtta be used to it by now...... fingers crossed it'll be the next few days or so....

Hey Ho, At least it gives me a bit longer to decide on a new centre speaker.

Cheers

Dave.

That's what you get for being greedy 42" :eek:

The JL 5 year warranty and good service plus low delivery cost are IMHO worth waiting for.

Yep, the 5 year warranty they offer is great.

Well worth the wait as already said.

Today's update.........................

My mum has been in to JL in Sheffield to get a charger for a zen mp3 player and asked whether our screens had been delivered as everybody else had received stock yesterday and also some this morning. They now say they aren't getting a delivery this week.... It "might" be next monday but they don't know and may probably be the 28th before anything comes in. :eek:

My mum went round the corner to the Panasonic shop and asked there and they confirmed that they had had a delivery of both screens today but they had all been sold already.... They will be getting another batch of both in next Tuesday as they confirmed both are selling like hot cakes and they have batches of them every week. They will also match the JL price and also give free delivery and free 5 year full Panasonic warranty too.....

The folks aren't fussed and will wait but our new plasma is part of a re-org of our living room and we have new furniture arriving each day, (none of it flat packed either :(), that we are having to store in the conservatory because untill the plasma and new TV unit are in place none of the rest of the stuff can go in..... (Our various bits of AV kit are being moved from different locations to all go under the new plasma hence they can't move / be replaced with the new furniture till the plasma comes etc...)

I'm gonna have a word with the mrs when she has her lunch at work and see what she wants to do but may cancel the JL order and get the same deal from Panasonic instead as at least they can say they will have them in stock next Tuesday.

Cheers

Dave.

The JL warranty is more comprehensive than the manufacturers one but it's a bit :( that it's taking so long.

Given the drop in JL's latest trading figures, they MIGHT just give you an additional little saving if you keep your order with them No harm in asking........

Given the drop in JL's latest trading figures, they MIGHT just give you an additional little saving if you keep your order with them No harm in asking........

Might be the case, but to be fair most places are getting similar drops.

Still if you don't ask and all that

Well JL changed their minds again this afternoon..... I called in to see what they had to say for myself. They checked for me and now say that they have no date at all for when the 2 plasmas will be in stock!!! :eek::eek::eek:

I point out that just about every other retailer locally and on line had received stocks of both of them yesterday / today and could they say if it would be next week or even a rough date. They now say they can't even give any date at all as they just show both plasmas as being on order and that's all.

Sooooooo i walked round the corner to the Panasonic store and we bought the 37" plasma for my folks which was in stock and will be delivered this Friday.... Also managed to grab the last of the next delivery of the 42" plasma so i should have ours in the house by next Friday. They matched the price, gave free delivery and also gave us the 5 year warranty too which is full onsite, parts & labour and if the screen has to be sent away we get a free temp screen of a similar size though may be a lower spec or LCD rather than plasma.... I'm pretty sure that was the same as the JL warranty but not sure if JL supply a temp TV though.

Anyhows went back into JL and cancelled both orders for a total of just under £1400 and they just didn't seem to care..... In all my years of dealing with JL (20 years in total), they've always leant over backwards to help but now it seems they're becoming just like a lot of other retailers and it has definately changed my view of them...... To be honest i think they've steadily become worse since they re-launched as JL from being various different named stores within the group..... The Sheffield one used to be Cole Brothers.... and is still called that by everyone i know. But anyway at least we got it sorted in the end just dissapointed that JL weren't at their best and lost the sales.

Cheers

Dave.

The JL warranty is more comprehensive than the manufacturers one but it's a bit :( that it's taking so long.

The manufacturers warranty is very comprehensive and includes a complete swapout if the tv if its faulty, with the JL warranty they are allowed to attempt 3 fixes of the same fault before they will swap. There are several members over on avforums who are having issues with JL and their warranty at the moment.

A few weeks ago, I bought a TH42-PZ81 and cannot fault the TV or its picture quality, they are a superb piece of kit and it will be worth the wait.

Maybe JL is so busy supplying our MPs with plasma tellys on expenses

Glad you got it sorted out but I would be tempted to send an appropriate note to either the store's general manager or head office, listing the details as well as noting your disappointment in staff attitude.

JL is/was regarded for high standards (not an over-common event these days) and it would be most disappointing if standards were allowed to slip.

Happy viewing when it all happens:thumbup:

A few weeks ago, I bought a TH42-PZ81 and cannot fault the TV or its picture quality, they are a superb piece of kit and it will be worth the wait.

Assuming your using the built in 'free-sat', what is the EPG like on

this model? I have found some of their 'freeview' based EPG's not great.

Yes it the freesat one,

I have atached a picture of the freesat EPG. The EPG is pretty good, and provided you have a vieralink/smartlink compatible recorder you can schedule recordings using the epg.

cool, looks good to me, not too 'cartooney' like some epg's.

As and when I can afford the hardware, look forward to having Hi-def:)

Have a feeling I'd just watch things that are broadcast in HD even when

not that interesting, just so much more absorbing, must be a bummer

going back to standard def programes:(

cheers

Must admit would have liked the unit with the freesat tuner built in myself...... The PX80 & PZ80 just have freeview instead..... Need to get a feed put in though as we have a digital aerial on the house but it only feeds the LCD screen in our bedroom which has freeview and the living room TV is only fed by Sky+ at the mo.

Not got any plans to get Sky HD yet as i want to wait till the newer none Thomson boxes are hopefully released later this year...... May get a blu-ray player round christmas though.... The only thing i'll be benefiting from at present is the 360 which will finally be able to spread it's HD wings and our DVD player which upscales so will see what that looks like too.

Cheers

Dave.