Miffed at Leica Repair

[charles barcellona www.bl]

After seven weeks... I called Leica about my M4-2, that was supposed

to be 2-3 weeks.

 

At first, I thought I lucked out, since they seemed to have lost it.

 

Then... they sort of found it.

 

I was supposed to be on mute on the tele, but wasn't. Got to hear a

convo between the service receptionist and some guy (a tech?).

 

Conversation more or less went like this

 

Her: Is (order number) back yet? Check the log.

Him: No its still out.

Her: Why hasn't it been followed up on, its been a month? I'm gonna

have to call him back

Him: It was supposed to be back two weeks ago.

Her: I hope they didn't lose another one, I need to call over there

and see whats taking so long.

 

<back on phone>

Hi Mr Barcellona. Your camera is still waiting for a small part. I'm

going to have to talk to our technician and see if he has an estimated

time. Can I call you back?

 

I agree. She called back 15 minutes later, and said it would be about

another week as the part just came in.

 

Y'know to me this is two lies. One is that Leica is doing the

service, the other is the lie to cover the first lie. Total crap. I

dunno... are they trying to save time by farming out service? I

understand they warrant it, but still, I dont feel right about knowing

they send some (or maybe all for what I know) units out to a 3rd party

for service.

 

Somehow I know down deep that my camera is not going to be back in a

week, or two. Probably more like three.

 

At least I feel less steamed sharing it. Thanks for the ears (eyes?)

y'all.

[sal dimarco]

Charles,

Which Leica service center are your talking about?

[jay_.]

I wouldn't send anything to Leica NJ except what's under warranty (or R bodies since neither DAG or Sherry wants to touch them).

[charles barcellona www.bl]

Leica Northvale

[carey_russ]

In 1984, I sent my M4 to Leitz in New Jersey. Intermittently, it had vertical streaks about 1/3 of the way in from the left side of the negative, viewed from the front. Light leak? Shutter curtain bounce (more likely as it was not consistent). Anyway, I was quoted three weeks when I sent it in. Three months later, it came back. Better than new, never another problem, but it sure took a while. Looks like some things never change.

 

Now I have an M3 and a IIIc that both need rf adjustment and cleaning, don't want to part with them for the better part of a year....

[douglas k.]

Took my car to the garage (by appointment) this morning. Asked for some repairs and also, as an afterthought, asked for an oil change. When I went back at 5pm (walking there from my office) they had only done the oil change, hadn't done any of the other work. No one even said "sorry."

 

Went to Las Vegas last weekend, went to a hotel to check into my reserved room, and they didn't have one. Again, no apology, just the statement that they didn't have a room.

 

I hate to say it, but this country might need a good, hard recession with 10% unemployment to get some good customer service again.

[alec1]

If that happened to me, I'd send a nice, but thorough email, including details - facts - dates - time - etc., to Roger Horn, the President of Leica US. After all, he does post his email address shown below. I once had a comment about something they were doing and told him directly. He was prompt in replying and a change was made.

 

roger.horn@leicacamerausa.com

[bill_dewberry]

sent my R lens to NJ for repair, it came back worse. Sent fax to

leica yesterday telling them I notified my credit card company not

to pay the charge.

[albert knapp md]

I have had only good experiences with Leica NJ over the past

four or five years. Since I am in the minority, maybe I have just

been lucky but I doubt it. I agree wholeheartedly with the

recommendation to e-mail Roger Horn if you are dissatisfied: it

is in his interest to make sure things procede smoothly.

[al_kaplan1]

After 35 years maybe the patents have expired on M4s! Maybe we can convince that newly independant Canadian company, Elcan, to start making M4 bodies again. Maybe even Elcanflex SL2s! Nice reliable Canadian made cameras and lenses. Maybe we won't worry about repairs anymore.

[xavier_dalfort]

Indeed, the company http://www.elcan.com sells optics....

[al_kaplan1]

For those not in the know, we're talking about the former Leica facility in Midland, Ontario. Elcan is an acronym for E. Leitz Canada.

[phillip_p]

I totally agreed with Jay. If I had to send anything for service I would send it to DAG or Sherry. It might take longer (maybe) but I know once I get it back it will be right.

[wgpinc]

I had my R4 serviced by Leica, NJ a couple of years back. It needed a new meter cell and the local guy, who claimed to have Leica experience, wasted two weeks before telling me it was beyond him. The camera came back in 6 weeks and has worked beautifully, smooth and quieter than my R7.

 

Doug said 'I hate to say it, but this country might need a good, hard recession with 10% unemployment to get some good customer service again.'

 

Doug, it's a recession when your neighbor is out of work. It's a depression when you are out of work! Best regards.

[douglas k.]

Gil -- that's why I wrote "recession" instead of "depression" -- I don't want to lose MY job!

[joseph_albert]

I took an R4 to a local Leica certified repair shop. They were

able to overhaul it and fix all but 1 problem with the camera where

program mode doesn't always work properly (all other modes work fine,

they claim). they sent the camera to leica usa to fix this 1 problem,

and the estimate for repair went from $260 to $560. I informed the

shop that it wasn't worth $300 extra to me to have program mode

working, and did not authorize the extra repair. Now I am still

waiting for Leica USa to send the camera back to the local shop.

 

And still waiting. Whenever the shop phones them, they say it was

"sent out yesterday". In the meantime, the local shop has no

record of receiving it.

 

So, I'm still waiting.

[awahlster]

I am a very new Leica owner so take this on face value.

 

I own a very nice IIIf RD and a IIIg (this one needs some shutter work) my lenses include a 5cm f2.8 Elmar, a 5cm f1.5 Summarit, a 9cm f4. Elmar, and a 135mm f4.5 Hektor. The Summarit needed cleaning when I got with the IIIf. I asked around about who I should send it to and got the usual well known recomendations all way out of my price range. Then I came across an outfit in California called kbcamera.com advertising Summarit cleaning for $89.00 plus shipping on ebay took a look at there site and called the guy (Richard) who answered his own phone at 5:30pm on a Friday. Based on this conversation I bid on the dutch auction he was running on ebay to help advertise his Leica service. I packed up my lens and sent it with a MO for the cleaning via Priority mail. 8 days later a pickup slip is waiting in my mail box. I run down to the Post office to pick up what ever it is when I saw it was from kbcamera.com I was very disappointed as I figured something much be wrong with it to be back so soon, I just knew when I opened the package there was going to be a note saying sorry the haze had etched the glass or it has been screwed up by someone else or something. BUT NO the receipt for the cleaning stated that all went very well and that it was clean and fully functional. I did note that on one of the surfaces (about two or three down in the lens) the coating is missing in the center in a pattern opposite of the pattern the haze made. But this is not the shops fault it would have been there before they ever saw it. They cleaned it perfectly and the images almost POP compared to the sad ones I got before the cleaning.

SO when I save up the money to get my IIIg CLAed KBcamera.com is going to get my business. They have VERY VERY good prices and from my limited experience the fastest turn around time known to mankind. Use this info as you will. I know how I'll use it.

OH just so you all know I drive a couple of trucks for a local landscape supply so even owning a Leica little lone two is a big treat for me and also financial burden, So I really appreciate being to get a lens cleaned for such a reasonable price. Because when you have to save up for a month or two to be able to afford a decent screwmount lens with no real collector attraction getting something done right the first time at a good price is a very good thing.

 

 

 

Mark W.

 

Canonitis FD sufferer and collector of 1950s rangefinder cameras including Braun/Paxettes and Leica LTM

 

Show and tell: http://awahlster.tripod.com/photo

 

Don't meddle in the affairs of Dragons, as you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup!