Leica drastically reduces prices!!!

[ddimaria]

O.K... well, kinda, I thought some might be amused by my recent encounter with their service department...

-----Original Message-----
From: David DiMaria
Sent: Thursday, December 23, 2004 7:52 PM
To: Repair
Subject: viewfinder upgrade

Hello, I was hoping you could give me a price to upgrade the viewfinder on my M6 ttl (0.58 mag). I am having patch flare problems. Also, what is the cost to recalibrate the rangefinder?

Thank You
David


----Reply------

David,

The cost for the upgrade is $26.50 plus $12.50
shipping. I don't have a figure or ballpark for
calibrateing the rangefinder but the technician will do the estimate and probably discount that price when adding to the upgrade.

Sincerely,

Vicki Valenti
LCI Customer Service

------Reply----------

Just wanting to confirm, VF upgrade is $26.50? I am a bit confused, I have heard prices ranging from $120 to $240. Is this the same proceedure that basically upgrades the viewfinder to those of the MP and M7 by adding an extra lens inside the VF?

Thanks
DD

-------Reply------------

That was a typo-it is $262.50 and yes that is the procedure. Please forgive me I was answering 200 E-mails yesterday.


"If it sound too good to be true..."

 

[Todd.Hanz]

Hey, a quote is a quote

Todd😀

 

[peter_n]

I think DAG does it for around $150.

 

[hoppinghippos]

I agree you could have held him to that first quote, tho it wouldn't be very nice as it may cost him his job!

 

[peter_n]

Recent Erwin Puts article on Leica's prospects

 

[sfaust]

I agree you could have held him to that first quote, tho it wouldn't be very nice as it may cost him his job!

The only problem with trying to hold her to the quote is that there are always ways around it. I've seen that in customer service before when mistakes have been made and the customer thinks they are entiled somehow.

"Yes, of course we will honor the $26.50 quote. This is our special price for our customers that are highly concered with cost, and don't mind waiting longer to save a few bucks. We put the camera in the queue, and when the service department is slow, we do a special run of the upgrades at the budget price. We can't guarantee any specific turnaround time, but the majority of the cameras are back to the customers in 6 months or less. It sure beats paying the normal $262.50 upgrade price if you don't mind waiting 6 months or longer."

"Here is the address to ship the camera to...."

She never did mention the turnaround time...... Besides, a quote isn't a binding contract and still subject to negotiaton. I wish it wasn't, as I was quoted $9,889 instead of $98,890.00. when I bought my motorhome! Man that would have been a very sweet deal!! But it was not to be 😛

 

[hoppinghippos]

wow stephen, you have a motorhome? do you travel a lot in it?

I guess while it's legally not binding, I think its called invitation to treat, but usu the big companies will stand by their mis-quote to save their rep. locally we had instances where the company actually had a misquote on their website for computers and lots of pple ordered based on that. if I recall in one instance it was honoured, and in other the company involved offered special prices to those affected instead of honouring the misquote.

in this case its leica so they've an even bigger rep to care about. but as I had mentioned earlier, the buck has to be passed somewhere and if it isn't from the guy's paycheck its firing him! not worth the trouble I think.

 

[sfaust]

Always worth trying for it. As you say, some will honor it just to maintain their rep. I actually had sears replace a garage door opener that was stolen right under my wifes nose while in the store (it was already paid for). I was totally surprised when they gave us another one and said "Have a nice day". I been shopping there a lot since, where I rarely did before. They certainly got their money back. So yea, I have to agree with you. Give it a try!!

Yes, I use the motorhome all the time. Or at least did. Put 25K miles on it in three years, and usually go somewhere every other weekend from March till Oct, and take a couple full week trips each season. Its been awesome! Here is a link to a web page I've written on the motorhome. 2000 Winnebago Adventurer 35U

And here is one for the For Sale page. Unfortunately, I haven't used it enough the last year, and my kids social schedule has preempted many trips, and will continue to do so for the next few years at least. Last year, I only used it for doing my air shows (6 or 7, see Joe Nall Air Show or Jet Turbines or My general RC site ) and its kind of expensive to keep around just for that purpose. So I've decided to sell it and get another one in about 5 years or so when the kids demmand less and less of our schedule. Motorhome - for sale web page

If anyone is considering one, I highly recommend it. We had so many great times traveling around in it. From Canada to So Carolina, from the east coast to Iillinois.