KEH repairs for Leica M6

I bought a "like-new" M6 12 months ago that seemed like a real

bargain--worked great, looked like new, came with the box and the

strap had never been removed from the plastic wrap. Unfortunately,

it appears to have been built on a Monday morning or Friday

afternoon. The preview lever is loose, the meter quit working after

5 months, the frame spacing has become erratic and it developed a

light leak when one of the studs in the hinged back broke off. All

this and the camera has never been abused at all--I've always treated

it well but I have used it a lot.

 

Has anyone used KEH's repair service for their Leica M's. They have

an online repair estimating service--you name the camera and model

and check off what's not right and it pops up with an estimate. The

estimate I got for the M6 was $150 for all the repairs and a CLA. It

sounds pretty reasonable to me. Experience, anyone?

I would spent $130 more and send it to DAG. I have never heard of KEH CLA a Leica M.

let me give you three other repair places

 

DAG

 

DAG and

 

DAG

 

Dont fool around with what sounds like major work.

Let me give you three more better repair places:

 

Sherry

 

 

Sherry

 

 

Sherry ;-).

�The estimate I got for the M6 was $150 for all the repairs and a CLA. It sounds pretty reasonable to me.�<p> Sorry to say, but $150 would just cover a little mote than ½ of a good CLA (let alone any repairs) from those recommend above. So the KEH estimate falls under the �too good to be true" category :-(

I would not let KEH do a CLA of my M camera. Here is a list of Leica repair techs:

 

http://nemeng.com/leica/007e.shtml

 

My favorite is Gerry Smith of Kinderman Canada.

i would be surprised if KEH will even take an m6. in any event,

do not entrust your camera to them. in the end, it will cost the

same as the others listed on andrew's site, and the work will not

be as good. leica repair is a specialist business. go with an

established name. better to fix it once and be done with it.

DAG is my #1 pick, followed by Gerry Smith and Reinhold Mueller (latter two are in Toronto). Sherry is significantly less expensive than DAG, I don't happen to get on well with her bravado, and I'm a bit anal when it comes to shutter speeds which DAG caters to and Sherry doesn't. But certainly if money is an issue I'd send it to Sherry in a heartbeat over anybody other than the three mentioned above. Recall that at $150 KEH is paying their tech much less and pocketing a profit.

I've just got a Leica mag yesterday. In it there is a section stated that Leica will pick up your camera for free and service it w/ a one year warranty. I don't have any experience w/ Leica service but it may worth a shot. Good luck.

 

PS I've heard a lot of good things about DAG. My local used Leica camera shop used him a lot.

Can't answer about a Leica, but I did send a Rolleiflex 2.8F to KEH and they seem to have done a nice job with the CLA and small repairs required. It was in fact a bargain.

I wouldn't let them touch my Rolleiflexes either. Harry Fleenor is the DAG of Rolleidom, Ross Yerkes is the Gerry Smith. Not sure who Sherry's counterpart is, I've only used the two guys.