When I bought my camera on May 2nd, I expected my rebate and battery and tapes in 4-6 weeks. When I got my rebate check finally at 8 weeks, they told me another 3-4 weeks for the battery, which would be the end of July. At DVExpo East they also told me batteries would be shipped by the end of July. Then in early August they said that battery issue would be solved by the end of August. Well here it is September 1st, and still no battery in sight. I don't care much aboutthe tapes, but they would be nice to have. After 4 months of waiting I am going to be forced to buy another battery, because my one hour battery and my extra hi-cap battery is not enough for an upcoming shoot. Last week I was down to 10 minutes of battery time on my second (original) battery when I finished the shooting. That was pretty stressful.

So it turns out that the kicked up rebate is not worth much to me, because I doubt I will ever need THREE high capacity batteries (if the rebate one shows up), plus the standard one.

I like my DVX, but this issue is really leaving a sour taste in my mouth. I am starting to wish I had just saved the money by buying a grey market camera and bought my own battery & book/DVD.

Bob,

I agree that 4-5 months waiting for a battery is unexcusable, especially when someone from Panasonic should give you an explaination for the delay. For me, 4-8 weeks is too long to wait for a rebate. I dislike them anyway.

Not too long ago a friend of mine had a customer complaint with Hewlett-Packard and he was unable to solve his situation directly with them. He began to tell "all who would listen" on the Net about how poor HP was at customer support. Needless to say, HP eventually came around and resolved the issue. In these situations I suppose (1) try dealing directly, - which you have done, (2) try esclating to upper customer support/mgmt., and (3) shout it from the roof tops. Good luck.

Paul Carlberg

Paul, if it was just me it would be one thing. Everyone is in the same boat. It seems like companies can't put a customer reward system in place anymore without screwing it up (Not just Panny). But more frustrating was that when I bought my camera, my supplier HAD these same rebate batteries in stock. He even offered to sell me one. But instead of Panny telling dealers to send the battery and then replace it to the dealer, they did this silly "rebate and wait" system. If they would just send me $75, I would buy one from an alternate supplier and be happy again. But I know the day I order one, the rebate will finally show up and then I will have just wasted my money.