Atrocity committed against my Luigi case

S

StuartR

Guest
This is partially my fault, but I am utterly livid. My M7 was having DX errors from the pressure of my Luigi case against it, so I needed to have a cutout made. I am leaving on a trip soon, so I did not have time to send it back to Italy, and I figured that a local leatherworker could probably make a simple cutout in the rear. Boy was I wrong. They totally destroyed the case. I am so so so angry. I have had this case since 2002, and it has been breaking in wonderfully. It is a brown leather built in grip case. Anyway, I went in there with my M7, had the guy trace the back of the camera's ISO dial, button, and EXP comp area. Then, I gave him a full color photo quality print out of the cutout as done by Luigi....this photo:
StandardBrobnM7cutoutRearStrap.jpg


After that I told him specifically to err on the side of making the cutout too small, as it could always be made bigger if necessary. He told me it should be done by Saturday. I was getting a bit worried about it, so I made an exact cutout to scale out of shirt cardboard, and brought it over. When I got there, he had already destroyed the case. This is what the case looks like now:

atrocity.jpg


I cannot contain my rage. Not only did he make the cuts completely uneven, rough and too big, he scratched up the back of the case. It looks like utter crap. Of course, I am out the cost of the case, but I am also out the years that I have been breaking it in. I really loved that case, and through my own stupidity and this guy's incompetance, it is now worthless. And I don't think I will have time to get a replacement because I leave town on Sunday. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
 
Tough break. I feel for you.

Can you take the case to a different leather worker and ask him or her to change the existing cut into a plain rounded rectangle? You'd have a lot of extra space around the DX wheel but it would improve on what you've got.
 
Not that you really want to buy another case, but I'll bet Luigi could get you another one by Sunday. I needed mine for a trip and he got it to me in a couple of days!
 
The guy obviously had no idea what he was doing, but he did it anyway. That is what really bugs me. Quite literally, I could have done a much better job myself with box cutter. When I told the guy that he ruined it, he didn't really respond but then said: "Well, it will still work, won't it?" I think I am going to try to talk to the owner tomorrow and see if I can get them to cover some of the cost of the case.

As for what to do now? Who knows? I am leaning towards just selling it to someone for a pittance just to get it out of my sight. I have a feeling that every time I look at it from now on, I am just going to think of how stupid I was to have given it to them.
 
What a nightmare....sorry. Whenever I've brought my leica never-ready cases, benser case, and old leica LTM gear carry case in to my Italian shoemaker, he's always said "ah, the collector! No worry, I fix nice for you!" I get them back better than they ever were, with soft leather sown into the case for extra support, and I swear he uses shoe polish or something to colour the thread he uses to sew, to match the weathered thread on the cases. And he's cheap as hell too....
A good shoemaker is worth his weight in gold.....
 
Gee... sorry to see your unfortunate situation.

Your local leatherworker appears to have been working freehand, while Luigi appears to have precision dies to make the opening. Your local guy should have had the decency to tell you that he wasn't up to the task BEFORE hacking. Please don't tell us that he still wanted to be payed for his services.

If I were in your shoes, I'd seriously consider cbass's suggestion of having it opened further to a rectangle with rounded corners, or Jorge's flap idea. But after this experience it probably will be difficult to trust the next guy who says "sure, bub, no problem..."
 
Holy FREAK. It looks like it was chewed on by a rat. You mean if this "leather worker" slipped up and sliced somebody's Bruno Magli's, there isn't some system in place whereby a reimbursement occurs? In the words of Fanny Flagg, "it's hog-boilin' time."
 
Yeah, I think Chris and Jorge's idea to get it made into a rectangle sounds like the only way to salvage it, but I don't think I will give it to anyone except Luigi. I learned that lesson...I have already contacted Luigi and told him about the thread and about maybe getting a new case, but it is 4 am in Italy, so he probably will not see it for awhile.
 
StuartR,

Sorry about that terrible attempt. Luigi obviously has punch dies to make the cut-out and this hack tried to free-hand it VERY POORLY.

Just my $.02 (and I know that it is expensive) but I would trash that after returning from the trip and just order a new one from Luigi.

His cases are so nice, I would have a hard time enjoying that one again after the hacking.

Best,

Ray
 
Damn, Stuart. My heart aches for you to see that beautiful case ruined like that. 🙁

I showed the pics to my wife. She took a leatherworking class in college and occasionally still does some of that type of work. She was just as appalled as I was. If it was me, I'd consider taking the guy to small claims court if I couldn't get him to cover some of the costs of a new case.

I sure hope Luigi can fix it.
 
Michiel, the owner was not there at the time, and it was 30 minutes before closing. I have the receipt, and I did tell the person who did the work that I was not satisfied. I am going to deal with it tomorrow. This is a small, local shop about two blocks from my house, and they are not going anywhere.
 
The worst part is that it does not appear that he even tried to make it look decent! If I had any pride in my trade there is no way I would even show a costumer a botch like that untill I a least made some attempt to salvage the damage I had caused.
 
Stuart, a new case with my M7 rear cutout will be shipped TODAY by Fedex, then we will talk on what to do... Ciao, Luigi - PS: ...hoping that it will reach you in time !
 
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