Question about DAG

My approach to Don Goldberg is based on the fact that he's a human being who works alone in his shop, so I don't pester or bother him much. It takes him away from his work and gets him mad at me.

Usually, I send him a warning e-mail (can you take a look at this piece of gear?), and he tends to reply by saying "send it to me."

I do it, check arrival with tracking number, make sure it's all OK and that's it. The wait begins... and it only ends when he sends me an e-mail that says "your gear is ready and the cost will be $XXX."

That's it. I send him a Paypal payment, he ships the camera and we're all happy.

Only once there was an issue with a Nikon S2 which he fixed, and upon receipt, the RF was still wonky. I sent it back and I got it returned in a week in perfect shape.
 
Honestly, I have really not had all that many things to have serviced or repaired in all the time I've been doing photography. But ... I've done business with Don for many years (30+) on both Leica and Minox equipment service when needed. I can always rely upon him to do his best. Since I have plenty of spare equipment, I'm never in a rush, but I usually ask him what he expects on turnaround.

I usually send an email describing a problem, he tells me what it might be, than I ask if he can take the work immediately or would he prefer that I ship it at another date. I ship the item to him, note the date of receipt on the tracking, and then he sends me a note when it's done and ready to ship back. By and large, he's beaten his time estimates most of the time.

I think I've had maybe one issue in all the years that I've worked with him. Nothing major, and he corrected the problem immediately.

He'll do some work for me on my favorite 1972 Summilux 35mm f/1.4 (v2) lens coming up. I'll ship it to him today. I'll switch to using my Pentax-L 43mm f/1.9 Special while the Summilux is out being taken care of.

G
 
Don is the best I ever used. His work on a number of my cameras was impeccable. He is also busy and will reply when he has a chance and when its necessary. He is the only tech I would entrust to handle my LTM Leicas.
 
Another vote in favor of Don. He fixed the broken shutter on my Minox IIIs quickly and at a reasonable price. As an aside, I believe he's the only person in the US who has Minox factory training and a huge supply of parts.
 
First of all, Don's father Norman was not a NYC repairman. His shop, Camcraft, was in Madison, WI, not far from Don's current shop in Oregon, WI. And besides being trained by Leica in Germany, Don also was trained by Minox and Rolleiflex. He repairs more than Leica as pointed out above.
My biggest tip is to not ask for an estimate. Show that you trust him and just tell him to fix it and you'll pay by PalPal the same day you get the invoice. You don't want him to pick up your camera, take it apart and set it aside. You want him to pick it up, take it apart, and put it back together.
You can order parts from Don, shown on DAGcamera.com. He ships parts the next day.
 
View Range said:
First of all, Don's father Norman was not a NYC repairman. His shop, Camcraft, was in Madison, WI, not far from Don's current shop in Oregon, WI. And besides being trained by Leica in Germany, Don also was trained by Minox and Rolleiflex. He repairs more than Leica as pointed out above.
My biggest tip is to not ask for an estimate. Show that you trust him and just tell him to fix it and you'll pay by PalPal the same day you get the invoice. You don't want him to pick up your camera, take it apart and set it aside. You want him to pick it up, take it apart, and put it back together.
You can order parts from Don, shown on DAGcamera.com. He ships parts the next day.
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1+
Remember too that when sending in lenses for service, he has a collimator and can therefore adjust lens elements accordingly whereas most other repair places don't have that device. This includes non-Leica M and LTM glass. Important to keep in mind. Leica will perform the same services on Leica-only optics and probably no faster, for lots more $$$.
 
A week? Sheesh, he's had my M4 since March. Not hearing anything at all, I finally called him in early October and he apologized profusely for not having gotten to it yet. Another six weeks and, still haven't heard from him that it's done. I figure I'll ring him again in the new year if I'm still waiting. That will be 10 months, which really ought to be enough.
 
I spoke to Don yesterday. He reported that Leica's repair closure has caused him to become swamped. Don't bother with email.

There is also an order in which things get done, and I get the sense (after years of having him fix things) that the repair order is non-linear and seems to be tied to the nature of the repair.

I have a lot of frustration with Leica, which has piggishly sought to dominate the repair space and then can't follow-through. This is not helping anything. I don't know how a brand can survive with nonexistent factory service and two overloaded factory-trained independents.

Dante
 
I find this thread incredibly sad. I used Leica stuff a lot before the digital age, but then it was actually possible to get something repaired within a reasonable period of time. When you use cameras for work, you can't be sending them off for a year. Unless you have duplicate equipment for backup which is not feasible with the price of Leica stuff now. A company that manufactures cameras for professional use cannot just close their repair facility without making some arrangement for those who rely on the equipment for their work. Well, they can, and they did, but what does that say? I always used Sherry Krauter who managed to get my stuff back in a couple of weeks. Mr. Goldberg may well be better, or the best, but Sherry was good enough for me since I needed the stuff back so I could use it.
 
I won't ever buy another new Leica digital, as I did twice. Both were debacles, the latest one being a Q that took 9 months at Leica NJ, after being promised 3 weeks.

The camera was less than a year old and still under warranty.

Don has proper collimators, shims & magnification optics, lenses made of tool steel by Leitz, infinity targets, a 1 meter test stand, not to mention 45 years of experience.
 
Dante_Stella said:
I spoke to Don yesterday. He reported that Leica's repair closure has caused him to become swamped. Don't bother with email.

There is also an order in which things get done, and I get the sense (after years of having him fix things) that the repair order is non-linear and seems to be tied to the nature of the repair.

I have a lot of frustration with Leica, which has piggishly sought to dominate the repair space and then can't follow-through. This is not helping anything. I don't know how a brand can survive with nonexistent factory service and two overloaded factory-trained independents.

Dante
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Rolex...which keeps parts for 25 years, screwed indepents by not allowing them parts access and squeezing them out. Very high prices for service followed.
 
Pablito said:
I find this thread incredibly sad. I used Leica stuff a lot before the digital age, but then it was actually possible to get something repaired within a reasonable period of time. When you use cameras for work, you can't be sending them off for a year. Unless you have duplicate equipment for backup which is not feasible with the price of Leica stuff now. A company that manufactures cameras for professional use cannot just close their repair facility without making some arrangement for those who rely on the equipment for their work. Well, they can, and they did, but what does that say? I always used Sherry Krauter who managed to get my stuff back in a couple of weeks. Mr. Goldberg may well be better, or the best, but Sherry was good enough for me since I needed the stuff back so I could use it.
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Nikon in Torrance could dilly dally like crazy
 
Wow okay, I'm surprised he's had some peoples camera for 10 months and have not gotten it back yet. That's pretty wild and somewhat concerning to me. While I do not doubt the level of expertise and knowledge he has on camera repair that is quite a long time to still not have your camera back? I currently have a M4-2 that I'm using but am trying to sell so I imagine I wont have it much longer and then I wont have a body until I get the M2 back from Don. Also with my camera having a very strange problem with it I'm thinking it may even take longer if he prioritizes easier (fixes) before more of the other strange issue related cameras.

While the wait for him to fix it is a little stress inducing I keep thinking about when I eventually get it back and he's done his magic to it and how good it will feel to have it back knowing that it's been fixed by the best person to fix it. Also it allows me to gather up more cash for the repair. Perhaps I should of thought on this more before sending it to him, but I'm a big optimist so I believe things will work out fine in the end.

I also feel like I maybe calling him now would be to soon since some members on this forum haven't got theirs back in over 10 months so why would I bother calling and asking for? Of course I don't know the extent of their repair so maybe there's a valid reason he's had it for so long?

I'm assuming I could probably call him and have him send it back to me if I wanted to say, send it to YYE for a faster turn around. Then again to me the problem with the camera is really odd which is why I wanted the best repair person to take care of it. Even if I do call him and ask for a ETA or mention if I could get it back before a certain date I would sort of feel like a impatient brat.

Either way I guess I have a lot of time to think about it so no need to rush to a decision of what I want to do.
 
xasthur said:
Wow okay, I'm surprised he's had some peoples camera for 10 months and have not gotten it back yet. That's pretty wild and somewhat concerning to me. While I do not doubt the level of expertise and knowledge he has on camera repair that is quite a long time to still not have your camera back? I currently have a M4-2 that I'm using but am trying to sell so I imagine I wont have it much longer and then I wont have a body until I get the M2 back from Don.
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Wouldn’t it make sense to postpone the M4-2 sale? If money allows of course...
 
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