Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

After six months purchase, and fairly light use, the unit has failed. The manufacturer acknowledged that the unit is at this time within the warranty period. The product support is a labyrinth of bureaucratic obfuscation and shifting between recorded responses that alternate. After a thirty minute wait and several attempts, I spoke with a "technician" whose only support was ro suggest my transporting the unit to a service center approximately 60 miles away. As I write this, I've been on hold on the telephone a second time for more than 20 minutes waiting for an answer to a question about shipping. Not only would I not purchase this product again, I can see no reason to purchase any Panasonic product given the apparent poor quality of their products and no reasonable policy to address their product failures. My wait time is now over 25 minutes. In addition, the "technician" has what I perceive as an adversarial attitude throughout. Update, the final wait time for the second call was over 32 minutes. Second update, February 9, 2017 After lengthy, very, and not particularly cordial discussion, Panasonic tech rep agreed to send a container to ship the microwave to be repaired. I delivered the container with microwave to a Fedex office across town and it was shipped prepaid to its destination. About 10 days later it was returned and now appears to be functioning as expected. I'm relieved that the purchase was not a complete loss, but, I'm fairly sure I'd like to avoid the very adversarial process by which the outcome was achieved. I believe that my sincere outrage at having a complete equipment failure after six months use may have helped this resolution, but I would have very much preferred encountering a sympathetic and helpful attitude, given that I feel that the failure was Panasonic's responsibility. Third update October 12, 2017 Repair made under warranty in January has failed, so that for the second time since the purchase in July, 2016, this microwave is not useable. Panasonic refused to take any responsibility for correcting the failed warranty repair. The only communication available was a chat line exchange with an unsatisfactory outcome. Amazon has indicated that I may receive a refund - possibly partial - upon their receipt of the microwave under an authorized return. Amazon's customer service was a huge improvement on Panasonic's. which was effectively non-existent. Panasonic's customer service telephone number plays a recording stating that there is a $9.95 charge to speak with a technician if the product involved is no longer in warranty, directs the customer to their online site, and terminates the call. It was very difficult to find a Panasonic customer support telephone number, which is kind of academic in any case, given their response. I continue to wonder how Panasonic's marketing group regards their customer support.