Polaroid - PDM-0822BD DVD Player Review

We bought a Polaroid PDM-0822BD mainly to allow my handicapped wife a way to watch movies & listen to music when she was confined to the bedroom, which is frequently.  We also bought a "Loading Dock", where you could recharge your batteries from.

Surprisingly, we had to make these purchases separately, as major electronics stores like Circuit City, where we got the base model, does NOT sell the Dock.  We were able to get it online at WalMart, & ONLY online because they do not sell it in stores.

Both stores were considerable cheaper than the Polaroid site, from which you could buy directly.

I must say this was our FIRST DVD player, and we were thrilled with simple it was to setup & operate.  This model offers an 8" screen, and picture was clear & bright.  It played everything we tried flawlessly.  This includes DVD movies from Netflix, music CD's we burned on our computer, music CD's we bought at the store.  Many were played through the TV set, which was also simple to setup & operate.

The battery pack lasts long enough to view a movie & charges back up again, in a reasonable amount of time.

On the downside, the speakers were only OK, and could use a slight boost.

But the WORST part was when this circular disk, that you set the DVD/CD disk on, cracked in half.  This part resembles that plastic disc one used to play 45 rpm records on their record players.  Itshoulda been a $2 part & was something I could have replaced myself, and I am certainly NOT a mechanic or techky GURU in any sense of the word.

We searched Hi&low for a replacement part or a service shop who could fix this simple thing.  We live in Cleveland, Ohio so there are plenty of places to choose from & yet we came up empty.

Finally we called Polaroid, even demanded to speak with a Supervisor, when we were informed that once we shipped our unit back, they would send a newone,  for a little over $100. (original cost was around $140)  The thing was around 9 months old at that time.

I BEGGED for the part & they were willing to let me talk to their repair department & all I could get was "empathy".

I also found out later on that Polaroid & others like JVC have "serviceless warranties" on their products.  This means, they provide NO replacement parts to anyone & do NOT fix anything, or allow anyone else to fix anything.

In essence, I spent over $200, dock included to watch videos & listen to CD's for 9 months. The simplest, cheapest part in machine broke & we received no satisfaction.  Our future electronics purchase will be determined by the Manufacturers warranty & HOW they service it.

There oughta be a law.!