DAG; A Little Dissapointed

I just sent my M6ttl and a 50 collapsible summitar to DAG for a Cla .. even after reading this thread ... If he is the best then waiting is not a problem for me ...
The lady at ups recognized "DAG" and was curious as to why all the photographers send there gear to him .. I told her he was the great healer of the Leica clan ... lol ... I guess I will have to buy a second body to help ease the long wait ahead ; )
 
What's the term in Seinfeld? Delicate Geniuses? I also have stuff with Don and now ten months. I ordered a screen from Bill Maxwell four months ago when he quoted me one month and still no product and no communication. I have basically given up.
 
What's kinda funny--to me anyway--I sometimes forget he has my lens. From time to time I contemplate a purchase of the Nokton 50/1.1, and then I remember I have a uber fast 50--just not in my hands yet :)
 
Good fast or cheap. Pick the two most important to you and assign the contract accordingly.

If he spent all day doing e-mail, nobody`s camera would get repaired.
 
The late George Gordon Carr was one of the greatest repairers/restorers of screw-mount Leicas (who else would have over a dozen 250s waiting for repair?) but he was easy to upset if you were rude, arrogant or pushy. Or even if you weren't and he had more work than he could handle from old or regular customers.

Bill Orford (Linhof specialist rather than Leica, though he can work on most things) seems to me to be more conciliatory to rather more people, and rather quicker to the 'passing trade', though I don't know because I got/get on well with both of them.

Personally, I'm hesitant to use a repairer I don't know, either personally (from past business) or by personal recommendation (including, where necessary, information on turnaround times). If I know what I'm expecting; well, I know what I'm expecting...

Cheers,

R.
 
LeicaTom said:
Does anyone have any opinion/experience with ESSEX CAMERA??

Tom
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They are excellent, I have used them, excellent communication and reasonable turn around time. Work quality is good but but excellent.
I send him a M3, it took 8 months sent back to me after few phone calls. I still have a M3/M4/M5 and three R lenses with him since March, 2009. He did an M6TTL viewfinder upgrade for me take three months, VF was off and have to send back, thre was a tool marks on the speed dial. The M3 he did for me is excellent. I have not find a perfect repairman.
 
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My camera just shipped. I feel kind of bad for calling Don every week to ask about it, but oh well. I should send him a card or something :)
 
OK .. everyone quit pestering Don ... he just received my camera and lens ... he's busy ; ) ...with all the pressure he is now offering a 3/4 CLA as an option .... what ever that is ...any way , I promise not to return to this thread and complain if he still has my gear in a year .
 
Don is primo.
He fixed my M8, whch I messed up trying to clean it.
But the real achievement is the CLA of my 90/2.8, which needed a lot of help due to stiff focusing and dusty glass.
It came back perfect. did I have to wait a while? Yep.
Do I care?
No.
Quality work makes up for the wait.
 
Goldberg

Goldberg

Don is primo.
He fixed my M8, whch I messed up trying to clean.
But the real achievement is the CLA of my 90/2.8, which needed a lot of help due to stiff focusing and dusty glass.
It came back perfect. did I have to wait a while? Yep.
Do I care?
No.
Quality work makes up for the wait.
 
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Don is the best. Sometimes he takes a week or two longer than he indicated, but it is always worth the wait for me. My experiences have always been positive. He recently took 6 weeks to convert an M2 into an M2R. It shipped last week. I once had covering replaced on an MP with Leica, and it took that long. Then I had to send it back because even though the camera was now free of bumps, the door no longer matched the camera. It took an extra 3 weeks to sort that out. You can have a bad incident or two with anybody, but when it comes to the actual work, nobody is better than Don in my opinion.
 
repairs

repairs

i have used many repair persons over the 35 years i have been into old mechanical rangefinder cameras .
don goldberg -- dag
sherry krauter -golden touch
ken ruth - photography on bald mountain .

these are the best -- most times you must be prepared to wait -- so - i think we all have a backup camera untill then .
i usualy expect some time as after the repair is done -- most need a time period to test -- to be sure camera is in top condition .
any good repair is usually a two to three month ordeal .
cameras are repaired in the order in which they are received and ultimately repairs approved .

most do not want payment untill the repair is completed .
 
Don did a cla on my M4 and Noctilux 1.2... I needed the equiptment by a specific date, agreed apon when I sent the items in... The items arrived on time for the event, in excellent working order.


regards Hudson
 
I see things haven't changed in that regard since I last sent him something almost three years ago. That is the reason I haven't sent him anything since.
 
Robert Hooper said:
Sherry Krauter does all the work herself and is readily available to talk to on the phone or by email, and will always call you if she has a question about your repair order. Turn around time is two or three weeks.
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While I have never had any experiences with DAG, given the nature of this thread, let me also recommend Sherry, who does excellent work. Sherry has done work for me on two CLs, a Summicron, and most recently a E43 Summilux. I especially like that Sherry is always eager to share her knowledge about the item with me, from its history to its workings. +1 Sherry
 
It's all about managing expectations. Usually you underpromise and overdeliver, customer happy. Also in this day people expect an email or whatever with updates, quickly. It would be good if Don had some sort of management system where people can see their status on web or something, like by serial number or whatever. Or hire an admin person for email only and raise prices by 20%!

My M6 took close to one year to fix (loose RF prism and broken meter, nothing too major, but that was just my assessment). First I emailed/called every three months, then in the end once a month. When I got a response it was courteous and to the point. In the very end I realised he was waiting for a used spare part to come up to save buying it expensively new (meter board) - much appreciated, but of course while waiting I did not know that. Managing expectations.

On the plus side, when I finally received the camera back it was like having bought a "new" used camera, without spending too much money. And I did not have to bake a 1st anniversary cake :)

I think for bodies I would only deal with the premier league and buy a second body in the meantime ;). Lenses and conversions can often be done elsewhere.
 
Robert Hooper said:
For the past several years, I have stopped using DAG for a number of reasons, some of which have been mentioned. The experience which turned me off completely from ever using DAG again was when I sent in my almost perfect 1934 Leica III for a CLA. When the camera was returned, all of the original flat head screws on the bottom plate had been replaced with an unorthodox mix of bright new chrome flat head or round head screws. Worse, the camera had two scratches of 15mm and 24mm across the lettering on the top surface of the rangefinder housing, marring the Leica engraving! My Leica had dropped from a condition 9 to condition 7, or less. Additionally, the film counter would no longer indicate the correct film count and turned freely. I actually became physically ill.

I called DAG I was told that this could not have possibly happened. Well, it did happen, and I suspect my perfect 1934 screws were replaced in order to restore another camera. A regular CLA would not require removal of these screws, in my opinion. I attribute the scratches to sloppy handling. I think DAG is swamped with work and I hear Don does not do all the repairs himself, so I don't necessarily blame him. However, I will never send anything to DAG again.

Today I send all my precious Leica equipment to Sherry Krauter. She performs repairs etc. to the same or greater standard that I used to expect and receive from DAG. Sherry Krauter does all the work herself and is readily available to talk to on the phone or by email, and will always call you if she has a question about your repair order. Turn around time is two or three weeks.
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This is a serious allegation, not the same as complaints about long waits. I took detailed photos of the Leica II I sent DAG, and everything came back the same, every screw and scratch(including round heads on the base plate, evidently OEM), except he fixed a dent, so better actually. There has to be some mistake here. There might be a long wait, but DAG does great work, and if it's not right he'll fix it.
 
I have used him for a repairing a Canon IVsb. It was seriously abused before I bought it. He worked on it, I paid, got it back & it wasn't working correctly, he fixed it in warranty & I was happy. I have not sent anything since because I either haven't needed his level of skill or didn't want to wait for his turn around time. My next CLA will go to Youxin Ye but that has more to do with cash flow than anything else... :(

Regarding Mr. Hooper's claims, all I can say is that I'd need to see some fairly heavy duty documentation before I'd give said claims much creedance... :eek:

William
 
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