Interesting one!! RE: Warranty issue

Hope

Hope

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Recently sent my TZ7 off to a company that Panasonic use for their warranty.

They refused to repair under warranty as the item had apparently been water damaged. Now I know for a fact, having taken so few shots with the camera that this was impossible. They sent a photo of what they say is corrosion due to water damage. After a long time I finally got this image forwarded to me. Now I am not big on my electrics but would I be right in saying this is definitely not water damage but some sort of leakage from one of the cells in the camera?


Thanks for reading all :)

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Hi,

I would agree that it's unlikely 'water damage' however, I'm sorry to say, it is typical of damage caused by 'fluid ingress'. I've been in electronics for over 20 years and have seen this type of damage fairly often, typically where drinks such as coffee or coke and been spilled and found there way inside the unit.

I would however be interested to see where this damaged area sits in relation to the case edges and other potential sources, such as cells.
 
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SteveRob said:
Hi,

I would agree that it's unlikely 'water damage' however, I'm sorry to say, it is typical of damage caused by 'fluid ingress'. I've been in electronics for over 20 years and have seen this type of damage fairly often, typically where drinks such as coffee of coke and been spilled and found there way inside the unit.

I would however be interested to see where this damaged area sits in relation to the case edges and other potential sources, such as cells.
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Thanks for your response SteveRob

The only time I had ever seen anything like this was with computer motherboards and that was a long time ago! So if I was to say I hadn't spilt anything on the camera, would it be reasonable to say this could happen without ingress? :thinking:

Thanks :)
 
sorry cant help you there but I agree with you it looks not to be water damage,it seems these companies are all set up these days with the equipment to test for water damage first rather than fixing them which in some cases must be cheaper then loking for "water" damage,moblies are bad for this too,thats the first thing they look for,like you would even consider talking outside on a phone or keep a phone in a pocket and it gets a bit sweaty,the new iphone takes it one step further,they have a moisture tester right on top of the phone in the mic socket so if ANY moisture should fal in there it will turn red and then they wrong even have to open the phone up and gets them of the hook.
 
Hope said:
Thanks for your response SteveRob

The only time I had ever seen anything like this was with computer motherboards and that was a long time ago! So if I was to say I hadn't spilt anything on the camera, would it be reasonable to say this could happen without ingress? :thinking:

Thanks :)
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Yes, it is typical of damage by fluid ingress but could have happened without it. As I mentioned, this picture does not demonstrate the location of the damaged section in relation to case edges or other potential causes.

I would ask them for a picture with the board in place.
 
Well with a quoted repair cost of £400, I hope you can understand why I am here asking for peoples expertise :D
 
I don't blame you.:thumbs:

If they can show, for example, that this section of the board sits close to the body edge then it will be difficult to argue a case. On the other hand if it is more central within the body and they cannot show any other fluid damaged parts then you may have an easier fight on your hands.
 
Thanks very much Stephen :D

I will see what happens! I guess :S Its a shame!
 
Hope said:
Thanks very much Stephen :D

I will see what happens! I guess :S Its a shame!
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It is indeed :thumbsdown:

I now work (and have done for 18 yrs now) in an electronics roll within the NHS and see this kind of damage all too often.

Remember that this is a very small area in their picture and it is surprising how little fluid can cause this. It most often happens with patients or staff spilling fluids on a device but I've seen it with a device sitting in some spilled liquid and it wicking up between the case joins.

In nearly every case though you can see the fluid path and I would certainly ask for them to show the path any fluid would have took. You might even have a justifiable claim of a design fault dependent on what they tell you.

Added: I've just showed the picture, blind, to my wife (who's been it same line of work as me for over 10 yrs) and asked her to tell me the first thing that came into her head. She answered 'fluid' :|
 
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Unfortunately I'd have to agree with the comments about it being some sort of liquid damage as I've seen quite a few cases where people have spilt something on their phone/laptop and also seen plenty boards where a component has died leaving a bit of a mess. In the former case the damage is usually over a wider area which looks like the case with your picture whereas with a component failure the damage is usually much more localised and often much darker.

At least it's not the increasingly common copout where they claim because a moisture detector has been tripped they won't touch the camera regardless of the fact there's clearly no water damage and the issue couldn't have been caused by that.

John
 
How soon post water damage would this sort of damage normally occur?
 
Looks to me like more than just an isolated case of moisture ingress, more like it's been 'sitting in' some fluid. It's very similar to the type of corrosion evident at battery terminals where there has been a leak of fluid.
 
gramps said:
Looks to me like more than just an isolated case of moisture ingress, more like it's been 'sitting in' some fluid. It's very similar to the type of corrosion evident at battery terminals where there has been a leak of fluid.
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This is what it looked like to me aswell. I mean really I want them to show me that that is the PCB of this camera because this particular company ( I have been told by the reseller) has been known to send photos of other PCBs ;)
 
I'd be asking for a "proof of life" type of photo that showed that that board actually belonged to your camera......

EDIT: GMTA :lol:
 
Flash In The Pan said:
I'd be asking for a "proof of life" type of photo that showed that that board actually belonged to your camera......

EDIT: GMTA :lol:
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Haha, yup, and that it came out like that!

I don't know what Panasonic are playing at but I won't be buying their cameras again. What makes them think its ok to send their cameras to some backstreet outfit like this under warranty?
 
Your unlikely to get a chemical test unless you arrange it yourself as the repair company won't want to foot the bill for it.

I've shown the picture to several colleagues this and they all answered 'fluid'.

I still think your best bet is to have them demonstrate that the board came from your camera and how they believe the fluid got in and take your case from there.

Sent from my iPhone using Forum Runner
 
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