Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I had a blast with my Panasonic SD-YD250 bread maker -- until it stopped working 4 days before the warranty expired in early November 2009. It would make dough, but not bake anything. I phoned Panasonic and that's when the fun began. They transferred me to the Philippines where someone would help me find a repair center. After four phone calls and considerible language barrier issues they referred me to a repair center in New Jersey. (I live in Virginia.) I shipped my bread maker according to their "detailed" directions. I phoned the repair center after Thanksgiving; they said the machine had arrived and everything was fine; they'd have it fixed and back to be in a few weeks. Well that didn't happen. Many more calls to the Philippines and New Jersey -- finally in January 2010 the repair center telephoned me. They wanted to know how I wanted to pay for the DENT in the machine that happened during shipping. Funny no one mentioned the dent in November or December. Of course they blamed it on the shipping carrier, which I didn't believe. More phone calls to the Philippines and New Jersey -- I told them to just fix it the darn thing and ship it back with the dent. Let me tell you the people in the Philippines were very rude and the people in New Jersey were even worse. The machine arrived here in February. It was FILTHY. After giving it a good cleaning, I made just a few loaves of bread and they never really came out quite correctly. My machine lost its luster, between the dent and all the cleaning it needed to get it useable. On Saturday 7/3/2010 I made bread again and the machine died. Today I gave it a good toss into the bin at our local recycle center. Panasonic people in the Philippines are rude, uncaring, and nasty. The "authorized repair" center in New Jersey should be shut down. There is only one authorized repair center in New Jersey, so if you are directed there, ask for a repair center in some other state. I give this product, Panasonic and the repair center in New Jersey a big thumb's DOWN. If yours is working, count your blessings.