How far would you go for good CLA on you Leica.

[henryk_barnas]

Until now I always sent all my leicas and lenses to Leica NJ for any

work needed. This time after reading one of the posts here I decided

to send it elsewhere. In addition repair person is only few hours

away from where I live. When I called to confirm that shipment

arrived and for estimate I have received worst treatment ever. Now I

am having hard time to deal with it. Should I call and cancel the

work and send it to Leica NJ, I know that no work has been started so

far on my camera. Or just keep quiet, get the work done pay and never

come back to that person. I have no reason to question quality of

work, but have a hard time to deal with circumstances and the fact

that I will actually pay someone for their discourtesy.

Care to share your thoughts?

[awahlster]

$250.00 is as far as I'll go. I have twice.

[andrew_c2]

I'm sorry to read that you've had poor treatment. Why a business would ever do that, I don't know-- they're not only risking losing you, but also anybody you recount this incident to. And it's not like Leica owners are a dime a dozen! To your credit, you haven't said who this person was.

 

I won't give advice in this situation; I would just clarify that those are two reasonable options that you've given yourself, each with their own pros and cons. The biggest concern regarding your camera is, will the quality of work suffer because of this exchange? If not, option 2 is viable.

 

This is a tough call; I hope it works out for you!

[Bill Blackwell Images]

If the work hasn't yet been started and you're already not happy with the service you're getting, then why wouldn't you just pull the camera now?

 

There are some very good Leica repair people in the USA - DAG, Golden Touch, Steve Choi - just to name a few - enough not to have to put up with any abuse.

[Craig_Cooper11664875449]

How far would I go in terms of distance, hmmmm....

 

I bought an M2 off ebay in 2004, the seller was in Hong Kong and I was living and working in Beijing, China at the time. I had the camera shipped to Singapore from Hong Kong - didnt trust PRC customs. Had a friend in Singapore hand carry the camera to Beijing on a business trip. Did a quick check of the condition and what I thought need looking at. Fedex'ed it off to Don Goldberg in the US from Beijing (just shipping it out of PRC was a mass of paper work).

Had it CLA'ed and a late model takeup spool installed then shipped back to Singapore - still didnt trust PRC customs. However, in the meantime I had relocated from Beijing to Bangkok, Thailand and 2.5 months later had someone else travelling from Singapore hand carry the camera to Bangkok. All in all about 5 months from purchase to actually using it.

 

thats how far Ive been :))

[colin_elliott]

What was it in one of the posts that caused you to send it elsewhere?

 

If you have always used (and been satisfied) Leica NJ, why change.

 

Why is there this strange IMO, desire to send a Leica to anyone but Leica? Who knows more about a product than those who build them or train on them. I have always found this bizarre.

 

If you tour the Leica factory you will understand that no "independent" has the resources to service your camera to the extent that Leica can and do.

 

You have every reason to question the quality of work! If the reception at the "front" is bad, how do you know that the "backroom" activities are any different? Yank the camera back and send it to Leica, NJ. In fact, I believe they'll even pick it up.

[frederick_muller]

Anything is too much to pay for bad service. Pull the job and tell them to %$&^$&.

[terence_mahoney1]

<i>Why is there this strange IMO, desire to send a Leica to anyone but Leica? Who knows more about a product than those who build them or train on them. I have always found this bizarre.

 

If you tour the Leica factory you will understand that no "independent" has the resources to service your camera to the extent that Leica can and do. </i></p>Pure rubbish. Many of the independent personnel in fact <i>were</i> apprenticed at Leica, and whilst they may not have the equipment to <i>fabricate</i> a Leica they most certainly possess the specialised equipment to sort them out. That said there are numerous qualified independents not to mention the Leica agencies, all of which are as close as the nearest postal or private courrier. I would not submit to discourteous treatment from any one. And one might argue whether ethics favours naming this individual in the spirit of helping prevent someone else here from suffering the same treatment, rather than perpetuate a problem by protecting the individual's identity.

[35mmdelux]

cancel order IMMEDIATELY. Send to one of the other reputable tecks. Poor treatment is absolutely unacceptable and potentialy a clue of what is to come later.

[henryk_barnas]

To give repair person the benefit of doubt (we all have bad days) I would like to restrain form mentioning name in this post. Please email me off the forum at henrykb �at� hbipe �dot� com and I will share the name and you decide if you go there.

[Jochen_S]

Being no white collar worker myself I don't care much about a friendly overhead of a repairshop. I accept peoples quirks as long as they respect my poverty or cheapskating. I like honest people by far more than acted friendlyness for which I probably have to pay extra.

[henryk_barnas]

Done, camera goes to Leica NJ.

[jack_wilber]

I am not sure who you were dealing with, Henryk.

 

DAG, Sherry and Leica are all nice, but pretty pricey and I think they take a fairly long time to turnaround even a simple CLA.

 

I've had very good luck with a guy named Youxin Ye. He's serviced several of my Leica bodies. There is a recent thread on him at Rangefinder Forum.

 

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=20925

 

He does excellent work and is very reasonably priced and very fast.

 

I know that there are some people on the forum here who equate high prices and slow turnaround with great service on their Leicas, but I am not one of them.