Customer Reviews

Philips 42PFP5332D 42-Inch Plasma HDTV

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Bought one of these 2 days after Thanksgiving and had a good experience with it for a month. Two days after Christmas I heard a noise like a pebble striking a windshield. I turned from the kitchen to see the picture closing as if a movie were fading to black, only it wasn't a movie. The plasma display had cracked. The actual exterior screen is intact but the display beneath it has been compromised. Philips says that it isn't covered by them - that I must have "done something to it". I'd also like to echo the sentiments of many other reviews on Amazon and elsewhere - their customer service is absolutely awful. Unfortunately I am unable to give this item a zero stars rating.

I recently purchased this TV from Sam's Club for $994.00 and am very pleased with my purchase. The resolution is great and the colors are very true to life. The black quality is excellent and the controls are extremely easy to use with the menu system being a breeze to navigate through. The setup was simple and the included stand was rock solid. I haven't viewed any HD broadcasts yet as I don't have HD cable but Digital cable, DVD's and VHS's look crystal clear. I would recommend this TV to anyone.

Save yourself a headache and avoid this product and all Philips Plasma's. If you take your chances and buy a Philips plasma, you might as well buy the extended service contract as you will likely need it.

I purchased the Philips 42in Plasma TV a little over a year ago and it started showing a thin red line vertically in the middle of the screen at about month 11. It was still under warranty and called customer service.

The repair shop picked it up a few days later. This was in the beginning of December. It is now March and they have replaced several parts without fixing it.

Here is the current workflow.

1. Repair shop orders a part from Philips.

2. Philips reviews the order to decide whether or not to give permission to ship the part since it is under Warranty.

3. Philips reviews the order and eventually gives permission to send the part. (this seems to take 3 weeks each time)

4. The part arrives 7-10 days later.

Part doesn't fix the TV and it starts all over.

Customer service has no way to track the status because it is in a different system.

The repair shop has no way of tracking it because philips has to give them an Order number and this doesnt happen until they give permission to ship the part.

Anyhow, when you call customer service, their only function is to tap dance around until you get aggravated and bored and get off the phone. They may promise callbacks, but it never happens. I even got one of their supervisors to admit that they provide service, but not good service.

I have a friend with the comparable Samsung that he got at about the same time and it works fine. Also I have anotehr friend with the Sony and it works pretty well, but pricier.

I have never had a TV break in the less than a year, but this one did and a neighbor purchased one as well and it lasted only 15 months was too costly to fix.Picture actually wasnt bad. just poor quality.

I bought this TV on Amazon for $996 with free shipping at the end of November 2007. It arrived in about 8-10 days by freight in perfect shape. Assembly was easy. The menu system is simple. The picture is great. The sound is wonderful. You're not going to find a better 42" plasma TV for under $1,000.

The only drawback is a TV this big with an excellent picture like this makes standard TV look fairly crappy. However, the built in tuner recognize 10 HD channels as soon as I hooked up my roof antenna. They look great. I have DirecTV so now am considering I need to upgrade to HD service to get the higher picture quality. DVD's look wonderful on this TV. I heartily recommend this, if you haven't figured it out already.

I lose sound switching from analog to digital.... but that might be in my offbrand hdmi cable.... tv is nice, picture is awesome, sound not the BEST, but works good.

I love my 42" tv I purchased it from my local Sam's club at first I was against buying a plasma and until I got it home didn't even know I had bought one (smile) until we had the tv on the bed putting the stand together. I said hey this says plasma.... da* I thought we had goten an LCD so I called Sam's Club and ask to speak a sales associate and ask him do they have the LCD in Philips. he said no only in the plasma.. So I said well I'll keep it now. The only problem is, it gets hot when your near the tv or in the room (bedroom), but the picture quality is great.. plus I got a hell of a deal and warranty through Sam's Club tv was $899.00 warranty was maybe $100.00 or less but I got a 5yr warranty through Sam's and the 2yr through Philips.. What a deal (Smile)

I BOUGHT THIS TV FROM BJ'S FOR $999.99 AND LOVE IT THE PICTURE IS PERFECT AND THE COLORS WWWOOOWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I COULDNT BE MORE HAPPY I HAVE IT HOOKED UP TO A JVC THC50 HOME THEATER SYSTEM USING A HDMI CABLE AND I FEEL LIKE IM AT THE MOVIES I WOULD TELL ANYONE IF YOUR GONA GET A PLASMA AND WANT TO SAVE MONEY BUT WANT HIGH QUALITY THIS IS THE WAY TO GO.

All may be fine if you don't have to follow-up with them for any issues. Ordered the 42" Plasma via their refurbished outlet online. The product arrived after 5-7 day shipping time and would not stay on for more than 10-15 minutes at a time. There is a overheat sensor that was tripping. Contacted their technical support team who begrudingly opened a ticket to initiate a product return. It took another 2 calls in to get them to figure out why the shipping service hadn't come back out to pick up the TV - the pickup finally occurred 9 calendar days later. It is now 30 calendar days since I originally received the TV and the credit has still not been made to my credit card. The packing slip does not have a valid, trackable bill of lading. Also, their return policy is such that you must wait for the product to be officially checked back in before they will either credit you or provide a new product. Needless to say, we went and bought a Hitachi immediately after opening the ticket due to their policy of no advance exchanges. They also have not responded to my email inquiries through their web order site on where the return funds are. I will now have to call again. I will never buy a Philips or Magnavox product again due to the risk of having to deal with them directly.

Update: After 37 days total I finally received the credit to my credit card and only after I called and inquired on status and was told my credit would be "expedited" (expedited took another 3 business days).

They have never followed up with me regarding my emails, complaints or otherwise. They missed an opportunity to recover a customer.

I am on my third 42 inch phillips ambilight. Thank God for the Best Buy service plan. Yes, that's right. 3 Phillips Tv's in 3 years. All get a red streak vertically right down themiddle of the picture. Never again. Want ambilight. Turn on a lamp.

After a whole year of research I decided to go with the 42 Phillips because of price ($990),quality and brand. Bought it in time for my birthday, came right on time (GO EAGLE DELIVERY). Very heavy, you will need two people to move it. Bought a flat mount which I had already set up and waiting for the TV to arrive.

Looks:- Well I thought it had the glossy black piano shine around the egdes however it didnt (ok no big deal). Attached my Component cables to the HD cable box and the instruction were clear as day.

Picture quality:- Ive only had this for a day, and Im having trouble finding the right picture setting. Phillips did well in having you choose from some stand still pictures however I still didnt like the outcome. IM still working on the perfect setting.

Audio:- Decent. I dont have surround sound and I dont think I will need it. Im pretty happy with the sound so far.

I have not connected it to a DVD, computer or anything else so I cant tell just yet. As I progress I will update my review but so far so good Phillips