An incredible Leica story

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UPS will deliver Saturday for an extra charge, as will Fedex Express.

Fedex ground (formerly known as RPS) offers standard Saturday delivery.

As far as claims, since in my experience over many years all three companies rarely lose a package, there have been very few claims. Since there were so few, I remember them pretty well...UPS was a hassle, Fedex was a breeze. Never have actually filed a claim with USPS.

Frankly all these are so efficient, I forego insurance.

 

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Interesting. I have had many interactions with USPS customer service recently. When I've actually been able to reach them (it's easy to get lost in their pathetic phone system) they always make promises, and not one single time have delivered on any of them.

In addition they will often give completely contradictory information.

Their retail counters are a complete joke. They are taught to follow a script and have absolutely no clue what to do with any situation outside that script.

Luckily the issues did not have to do with claims or lost packages.

With Fedex I can get a real person on the line in a few seconds. They are well-trained, friendly, and helpful. If they can't handle something themselves, they'll forward to someone who can.

 

[Corran]

All the USPS counter folks know me by name. Super helpful, and they will ask their general manager if they don't know something.

My old delivery guy would call me on his cell if I wasn't home and he had a package for me, and would let me come pick it up when he had his lunch break!!!

 

[daveleo]

I get the feeling that experiences depend highly on the *local* carrier people. The guys who work UPS, USPS & Fedex in your home town. This would account for the diverse opinions here.

I discovered USPS priority mailing, using their "free" 🙄 boxes and paying and printing labels at home (on line) to be a very smooth process. (Actually waiting on line at the Post Office is one of life's worst experiences.)

 

[burancap]

I get the feeling that experiences depend highly on the *local* carrier people. The guys who work UPS, USPS & Fedex in your home town. This would account for the diverse opinions here.

I discovered USPS priority mailing, using their "free" 🙄 boxes and paying and printing labels at home (on line) to be a very smooth process. (Actually waiting on line at the Post Office is one of life's worst experiences.)

^^EXACTLY^^

My local UPS store is great. The service is always excellent. Oh, and I love the personalized Xmas card that is hand signed by the wonderfully kind and polite owner/operator! But, when I get 90% of the service for 50% of the cost, I move. USPS Priority has been my exclusive shipper for about two years now. No deal-breaking complaints so far.

 

[madNbad]

I'm sorry but this whole story reminds me of the saying of " I stepped in dog doo and found a hundred dollar bill stuck to my shoe." I would love to be in the positon of stuffing twenty grand worth of equipment into a box and leaving it in the care of a third party to ensure the delivery driver picks it up. I managed to send a M body from Portland, Oregon to Solms, Germany and get it back. This shmoo couldn't get it the thirty miles from New York City to the Leica NJ repair facility and we are expected to feel sorry for him because he couldn't be bothered with taking the time to carry the package to a UPS Store? Leica is responsible because they sent him a shipping label. My guess is Leica will suspend the practice and make the owner responsible for their own shipping. I'm glad it worked out for him but what about some responsibility for your own equipment?

 

[burancap]

This shmoo couldn't get it the thirty miles from New York City to the Leica NJ repair facility...

I missed that "little" detail in the story. 😱

30 miles? I live in a US capital city and I have at least 60 miles between me and the slightest semblance of a proper photography store. I would have hand delivered the package ... on my knees.

 

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Harsh.....considering all delivery companies offer pickup service, too.

I'll ship something across town just to save time and gas money and avoid traffic. And I'm not talking NYC traffic here...

 

[Range-rover]

Wow, imagine if his old camera's show up after being in the ups warehouse for weeks.

Range

 

[x-ray]

A luxury brand would certainly be self-insured or use supplementary insurance in order to protect their reputation. It's even possible Leica's contract with UPS includes full insurance.

I would never ship times as expensive as a "M9-P, Monochrom and Noctilux" without full insurance coverage.

At any rate the however Leica happened to cover the loss, they certainly acted in both their and the customers best interests.

I'm guessing leica has a supplemental insurance policy so all they did is turn in the claim and replace the gear. It's nothing other than normal business practices. It wasn't something special that Leica did. Any company that insures through a supplemental policy would do the same. My brother who's a one person business has a policy to cover items in transit with carriers.

I've had two problems with fedex. I ship my art to galleries by fedex. On two occasions they destroyed the package. Eventhough I had insured the art for $400 they refused to pay more than $100. The clerk was more than happy to take my money for insuring art for $400 and on the shipping bill it was marked art. When I made the claim they directed me to the fine print that they will only insure art up to $100.

My wife is a painter. Her gallery in Charleston SC sold a very expensive painting to a couple in California. The gallery owner had a crate built and shipped it via FedEx ground. In transit the truck caught on fire and the entire contents was destroyed. The gallery owner placed a claim and then was told they only insure art for $100. The gallery owner wasn't going to take this because fedex took the money for insuring a $10k painting. In the e d fedex paid because they knew they would lose in court.

The moral is, carriers are happy to take your money with a smile but just try to collect if anything happens.

 

[Pioneer]

I think it is a good story and I also think that it demonstrates what is unique about Leica.

How many would expect the CEO of Nikon or Canon to contact you via telephone after you e-mailed them? I'm not too sure if I could even find an e-mail address that got directly to the CEO of Nikon.

Say you did get in touch, do you think you would receive that equipment from one of the other manufacturer's? Sure, they would probably file a claim on your behalf, and they would probably let you know...maybe.

I think it also demonstrates part of the problem with the shipping system in this country. We leave our package for pickup, we expect that it gets picked up by the right person, not just any clown who found some brown clothes at the Salvation Army Thrift Store.

 

[x-ray]

first- getting to leica in nj without a car is a big hassle. leica and b and h and everyone ship millions of dollars of equipment every day. it is not necessarry to hand deliver the equipment. one can easily drop off a package containing all of your cameras at a ups store with leica's label and have it scanned. but leica did him no favor-if they issued the label, they accepted the responsibility of shipping- he was wasting his time with ups- he was not the true shipping client- leica was.
leica has insurance. and on the subject of the m9-p- leica has plenty of returned or traded in on m240 deal m9 chassis sitting around.
leica did not do anything extraordinary, they merely performed their end of the contract. note- they did not offer him a new m240- just serviced an m9 switched a top plate and cover, and got it out of inventory- who knows how much the shipping insurance had to pay them for it- probably retail...

I thought about that, whether Leica turned in the claim and made money on the deal. It's my guess they did.

The claim is just part of business not some special treatment.

 

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UPS investigates, and the package is determined to be lost.

At that point, Leica should have provided replacement gear.

"After a few days that then turned into weeks, my despair pushed me to get in touch with Leica. And I got in touch with them more and more often. The person who was responsible for the service really tried to help me, but this was obviously not a simple and quick matter for them or for anyone involved. I grew more and more upset."

None of that was necessary...

I don't see Leica doing anything particularly special here.

In fact, they completely dropped the ball...and only picked it back up when the customer wrote the letter.

 

[x-ray]

EXACTLY.
In defense of Leica USA, however. Leica Germany overworks them and understaffs- systematically not replacing positions and loading work on existing staff. too busy with the boutique bisiness and posing with Seal. The top level contact was exactly as it should be read- a fear of having this go viral after their tragic m9 sensor flip flop. Leica in damage control mode.

You're exactly right.

Leica's doing exactly what nearly every other company has done since the recession started. Cut staff and overload the remaining staff. It's the new way of doing business. Many of my clients have done that with their marketing departments.