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Stephen and Mal own several Panasonic cameras, both for the vlog and for MalMakes. The two vlogging cameras that Stephen has now are the ZS100 and the LX10. Shortly after purchasing them, Stephen notices that both of the cameras had some dust or black spots that showed up on a high aperture. He decides to send in the LX10 for repairs, since it's under warranty.
Here's where things get bad. About two weeks after sending the camera in, he gets a call from Panasonic saying that the warranty has been canceled because the camera has been "abused". It will cost $503 to cover the cost of repairs, when a brand-new camera costs $540. There is no way to fight this decision. So Stephen asks the camera to be sent back.
After this call, Stephen and Mal go online to look at Panasonic's customer service reviews. It turns out that Panasonic does this all the time with their customers - the warranty effectively means nothing.
On the upside, when Stephen bought the LX10, he bought some extended warranty with a third-party company. Hopefully he'll be able to get the camera fixed through that.
Because of this whole situation, Stephen and Mal will no longer be buying Panasonic products. Stephen urges the viewers not to buy their products also, or to at least take out warranty with another company, because Panasonic's warranty doesn't mean much of anything.