Toshiba SD-3108 Review

Overall Rating

Very good picture quality

Evasive Customer Service

Firmware / "Check Disk" error for Toshiba SD-3108 DVD player.
For anyone who has the "check Disk" problem with their Toshiba SD-3108, here is what happened to me & how I solved it. Maybe it will help you too (sorry it's kinda long).

The story starts when we bougt the Gladiator DVD. We put it in our SD-3108 & got the infamous "check disk" error. So, first thing I did was log on the net to see if anyone else had this problem. I found out from reading various sites on the net that the Toshiba SD-3108 has some sort of a firmware upgrade issue that would prevent it from playing this particular disk.

So, I called up Toshiba service, and sat on hold at least 40 minutes. Finally a person came on. I told them that we purchased a DVD Video disk & it wouldn't play in our SD-3108 machine. Note that I DID NOT blurt out what I knew the problem was. I wanted to give them the opportunity to be an upstanding company that takes care of its customers.

Well, as soon as I said I got a "check disk" notification, the service person said "oh, it's a scratched disk, happens all the time, you need a new disk". I told him I was sure it wasn't a scratched disk and... but he stopped me and asked if I had exchanged the disk yet.

Ok, I could see this was heading in the wrong direction, & that even though I knew that they knew about the firmware upgrade issue with my player, they weren't going to volunteer anything. Bad Toshiba, BAD!

So I then told him that the reason I knew it wasn't a scratched disk was that I had looked on the net & found that there was a firmware issue with this model. He then put me on hold to "check with the technical people" (ie go get some coffee). He then asked me for some numbers written on a small white tag on the bottom of the unit. I told him what they were, he put me on hold again, & came back to say that yes, indeed, I had a firmware issue. He gave me the phone number & address of my local service center & suggested I call them.

Now, my unit is over 2 years old and out of warranty, so I asked him if there would be a charge for this error correction (hoping Toshiba would step up & fix their faulty machine). He said he didn't know, & that I'd have to call the service center. Well, I had already called one service center and talked to them prior to my call to Toshiba (knowledge is power), and they had told me that the charge would be $75.00 - $95.00 (seems a bit steep to me to correct a problem that Toshiba knew about when they sold the machines.)

So I told him (in as "lawyer" a voice as I could) that according to their documentation & owners manual, their player would play any disk with the "DVD Video" symbol, and that the Gladiator DVD I just bought had that symbol, and yet their player would NOT play it. He asked me to hold again to check with his supervisor (uh, sure...). When he came back, he said that they would take care of the labor costs, & that they would fax the authorization to the service center.

I took the player to the service center, & because this particular service center is so great, they went ahead and fixed it for me without yet having received the fax from Toshiba to pay them for it. It now works great!

In summary, here's what worked for me when talking to the Toshiba service center about this particular problem:
1) Tell them your SD-3108 DVD player will not play the Gladiator DVD disk & it's not scratched or otherwise damaged (assuming that's true)
2) Tell them you know about the Firmware Upgrade issue with the SD-3108
3) Look up the number written on the white tag on the bottom of your player & tell them what it is
4) If they don't offer to fix it for free, then tell them that according to their own documentation (P 51 of the owners manual), this player can play any disk with the "DVD Video" disk mark, that your disk has that mark, and that the player DOES NOT play it. The implied threat being that they sold a product through false advertising. They SHOULD offer to fix it free at this point (at least labor, which is most/all the cost as no new parts are required)

Toshiba could have made a loyal customer out of me, but instead, trying to save a few bucks, they missed out on my ever purchasing another Toshiba product. While it's true that I did eventually get my player fixed for free, the slimy way they didn't tell me what they KNEW was the problem, & didn't offer to fix it for free up front, and how I had to really keep pushing, I have to recommend to everyone to NOT PURCHASE A TOSHIBA PRODUCT!!! The quality of this DVD player seems fine, but if you ever have to deal with service, you'll be left hanging out to dry unless you really really push hard & have all your facts lined up.

I sincerely hope that more people will use the internet to share information on the behavior of manufacturers, both the "bad" stuff, which usually gets much more press, but also the "good" stuff. Maybe manufacturers will get the idea that being honest & doing what's right by their customers is the only way they will be able to sell their products & stay in business.

- Kevin

Members' Comments onKevin.'s Review

• Editor. on 22nd Oct 2001

  A lesson I have learned about handling customer services in general:
  
  If you find things are not going your way, hang up and ring back. You may get a more cooperative person to deal with. Be careful how you talk to them as the wrong tone of voice could be sufficient to sign your own death warrant. They have the power to choose your fate and they are only human.