I recently bought a 640x400 Matsushita graphical display (Allelectronics.com - $4.50) however the included specs sheet had very poor quality so I ended up calling Panasonic (formerly Matsushita) in order to find a better datasheet. After talking to a computer voice and going through series of steps specifying my problem and acknowledging me about the fact that my phone call may be recorder I finally got to talk to someone human. After a series of formal questions and thanking me for calling, I have carefully explained my problem and emphasized that I'm talking about an electronic part. Since the part number on my specs sheet could not be found in the operator's database I was asked to look at the back of the television and give another number. After I emphasized again that I'm not talking about a television, I was asked to look at the back of the plasma this time. When I explained my problem again, I was asked to look at the back of the television again and tell whether it's connected. (If I knew how to connect and interface it, I wouldn't call the customer service but this apparently exceeds the operator's range of understanding). The final nail for his confusion was when I told him that it has a 20-pin data interface with upper and lower bits + 2 wires for backlight. This was already third time I had to explain my whole problem and I was getting pretty mad. So did the operator but following his guidelines, he did not forget to thank me for bothering him (not literally). After about 20 minutes of phone call, however, the operator finally realized: Oh, it's an electronic part! (DUH!! - And what was I talking about the last 20 minutes?!) Now, I was told that I'm calling the wrong customer service number (the only one Panasonic has on the website but that probably doesn't matter) and I have received another number. After thanking me again for calling, I was directed to a survey - that operator I was talking to prabably wouldn't want me to participate (after this experience). I have called the other number right away however the line was out of order... So much for that, I thought - customer service for electronic parts is definitely not a strength of Panasonic.
Did you have similar experience with customer service?
If yes, feel free to share your stories...