Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I used to love Panasonic. But not any more. I may stay in Panasonic for a while because I still have so many ‘Eneloop’ batteries from Panasonic (Sanyo used to make these batteries, but now they belong to Panasonic.) As many other customer, I purchased this toaster based on reviews. But, I realized that most of reviews are short-term reviews. I should have read reviews which were written by long terms users. Like many of you, I thought I was a smart shopper. But, not really.. Anyway, here is my experience with this oven. I used this oven two or three rounds of toasts about 5 times a week. Sometimes just one round. One round means 3 or 4 slices of bread. I used a medium preset, which worked fine from the beginning. After about a year, the toaster burned more for pieces placed in the deep part of the oven. So, I moved to lighter setting (out of 5, the second one from the left). It didn’t take long to move to lightest setting (the very left button). Now, even with this setting toasts started to burn. In the mean time, I noticed that the clear heating element (top and deep inside, ABA86-17500U) changed the color, from clear to dark. Panasonic’s part are notoriously expensive. This element is about $46, but not available any more (their part store said in a month, but the available date changes every day, means eternal one month!). I just wanted to confirm that the symptom (the deep part burns more and the heating element changed its color) is from the heating element ABA86-17500U. I contacted Panasonic to ask about. No one really can help. They gave me numbers of local service stores but local stores don’t handle this product. Finally they give me direct number for Panasonic Customer Service Center at Texas. At this point, you know what’s going to happen. Yes, I need to pay $100 + shipping for $120 product brand new! I’m a kind of handy man with lots of experience of fixing things with physics and electronics background. I’m not an active environmentalist, but I always feel guilty when I have to throw away thing that can be fixed and used. I wanted to fix this or replace parts if I had known some information and if I had been able to purchase a part. Even if it costs me $50-60! It’s unfortunate that most of toasters are like this. If you are extremely lucky, you get to use it for 3-4 years. If not, trash it and buy a new one. I need to start shopping around for a toaster again. But, I’m not sure which product has parts easily acquired so that I can use for a long time. My review may not affect overall reviews of this product. Panasonic may not care, but at least I would like to throw a stone into the lake. When lots of people throw rocks together, who knows whether Panasonic would realize? Update: January 20, 2017 Most people post reviews before they use for some time to see if the product is reliable for a longer period. Anyway, I was wrong about their part availability date. It was not forever '30 days'. It kept on changing. But I'm not sure if they are reasonably accurate. Several days ago, their web site said '63 days' but this morning '20 day'. I'm kind of doubtful, but I may as well order and see what will happen. After I wrote the first review, I took a part the oven and disconnected a wire from the Clear Heater (ABA86-17500U) so that this heat doesn't get any current. I wrapped around the heat wire with an electrical tape in a secure way, not touch the metal housing and far from the heat source. After assemble, I tested. The heater gives out the heat as well as the light. The toast oven didn't not burn a few slices of bread but toasted lightly due to the lack of extra heater. I decided to use this way until I find out what I want to do. I just increase the cooking time to make the bread a litter darker. Of course, the top and bottom of the toast are not similar, again due to the lack of upper heater. What I was mad about Panasonic Support is that they didn't or refused to tell me what is wrong. I wanted to know what would be the possible solution so that I can decide if I have to trash or replace a certain part. All they said is that since the warranty period is over, I need to send it back to them and the cost is about $100 without shipping. They should do better than this. They should really try to understand customers and help them in a sincere way. I will update again when I receive the new heater.