ROOOO
Established
I've longed for an M series rangefinder for a number of years and after Christmas last year finally decided that I would sell all my digital cameras and get an M8 to take with me on my first trip out of the States in nine years. I picked up an M8 from one of the New York Leica dealers right after New Year's, planning to spend a couple months getting used to the rangefinder experience before leaving for Europe in March.
Unfortunately, upon receiving the M8, I immediately discovered that it had a number of flaws that are at least somewhat common with this camera. The rangefinder wasn't vertically aligned and exhibited backfocusing. Additionally, photos shot at high ISOs often contained vertical lines of red or blue pixels that were consistently placed.
I immediately sent the camera back for repair. A month later I emailed Leica to check in to see when it would be ready. They told me that it wouldn't be ready until the middle of March. As a result, I postponed my trip to Europe until the end of March.
When I received the M8 back, I found that they had repaired the rangefinder alignment, but they had neglected to fix the problem with the vertical lines that appeared in high ISO images.
Once again, I immediately returned the camera for a re-repair. And again I postponed my trip to Europe until this coming weekend. Leica assured me that they would repair the camera ASAP. I was hopeful, as I heard from Dave Elwell at Leica's New Jersey office last Monday telling me that the camera was "on the bench" for repair and that he just needed me to send a sample file from the camera indicating where the vertical lines were appearing. I did so immediately after I got off the phone with him.
Later in the week, I attempted to follow up with both Sarah Mayville and Dave to check in on my camera's status but did not hear anything back from them. I sent additional emails over the weekend.
Having not heard anything by this morning, I placed calls to both of them but neither answered. Dave had an auto response, indicating that he is out of the office until next week, and his extension forwarded me on to the general repair department, where I spoke with someone else.
I asked her about the status of my repair, and she said it wouldn't be finished until May! When I told her that it was a re-repair and that Dave had mentioned that it was "on the bench" last week, she went to go check on it. According to what she found, there was no indication that the repair had been fast-tracked at all, but that I should check back again.
At this point, all I want is for Leica to ship the camera or a temporary loaner back to me overnight--repaired or not--so that I'll have it back in time for my trip this weekend. I'm more than willing to pay whatever the cost of shipping it back to me. I emailed Christian Erhardt, who I think is the VP of Marketing for Leica U.S., asking for as much. I hope that he is responsive and able to have someone take care of this. However, I have yet to hear anything back.
I wish I could be more optimistic at this point, but it's really unclear as to whether Leica is going to come through, and it seems more likely that it won't.
I have no doubt that Leica makes wonderful cameras. I've spent too much time reading this and other Leica forums over the past six months. I believe that much of the fanaticism that Leica users have for its cameras is justified. The 30 minutes or so that I've spent handling my M8 over the past few months have revealed it to be an incredibly well-engineered camera that, in many ways, lives up to my expectations. I love my R8 and I really want to love my M8, but it's tough given the context of Leica's customer service, given the fact that I purchased the camera with what I felt was sufficient lead time for a once-in-a-decade trip. I've now spent hundreds of extra dollars postponing my trip twice in the hope that I would get my M8 back in time for it. And yet that still might not be enough.
I understand that Leica's repair operation is small compared to, say, Canon's, which can turn around a camera in a week. And it is probably under much more pressure with the popularity of the M9 and X1. However, my whole experience has been frustrating, time consuming, and costly beyond what I would expect, especially given the cost of Leica's products and its status as a revered, premium brand.
Consequently, I'm about ready to give up on that brand and just use my GF1 until someone else produces and supports a digital rangefinder with an optical viewfinder and an M-mount. I wish this wasn't the case, but it is what it is. If anyone has suggestions or contacts for resolving this issue with Leica, New Jersey, in the next couple days, I would greatly appreciate them.
Thanks,
Rick
*UPDATE*
I heard back from both my dealer and Leica this morning. They said that I'll get the camera back by Friday, so we'll see what happens. It sounds like they're going to come through. In the meantime, I wait for a tracking number.
*UPDATE 2*
I received the camera back on Friday morning as I posted here: http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1301234&postcount=123
Leica did come through for me!
*UPDATE 3*
I had a chance to test out the M8 yesterday. Leica did repair the problem with the sensor causing vertical lines on high ISO images. However, they returned the camera to me with the rangefinder vertically misaligned. I took the camera to my local dealer today, and he confirmed the issue within a minute. I don't think I have any option but to return the camera to Leica, New Jersey, once again. I think I will have spent nearly $300 on shipping and insurance and my time just on the several trips to FedEx/UPS I've had to make.
Unfortunately, upon receiving the M8, I immediately discovered that it had a number of flaws that are at least somewhat common with this camera. The rangefinder wasn't vertically aligned and exhibited backfocusing. Additionally, photos shot at high ISOs often contained vertical lines of red or blue pixels that were consistently placed.
I immediately sent the camera back for repair. A month later I emailed Leica to check in to see when it would be ready. They told me that it wouldn't be ready until the middle of March. As a result, I postponed my trip to Europe until the end of March.
When I received the M8 back, I found that they had repaired the rangefinder alignment, but they had neglected to fix the problem with the vertical lines that appeared in high ISO images.
Once again, I immediately returned the camera for a re-repair. And again I postponed my trip to Europe until this coming weekend. Leica assured me that they would repair the camera ASAP. I was hopeful, as I heard from Dave Elwell at Leica's New Jersey office last Monday telling me that the camera was "on the bench" for repair and that he just needed me to send a sample file from the camera indicating where the vertical lines were appearing. I did so immediately after I got off the phone with him.
Later in the week, I attempted to follow up with both Sarah Mayville and Dave to check in on my camera's status but did not hear anything back from them. I sent additional emails over the weekend.
Having not heard anything by this morning, I placed calls to both of them but neither answered. Dave had an auto response, indicating that he is out of the office until next week, and his extension forwarded me on to the general repair department, where I spoke with someone else.
I asked her about the status of my repair, and she said it wouldn't be finished until May! When I told her that it was a re-repair and that Dave had mentioned that it was "on the bench" last week, she went to go check on it. According to what she found, there was no indication that the repair had been fast-tracked at all, but that I should check back again.
At this point, all I want is for Leica to ship the camera or a temporary loaner back to me overnight--repaired or not--so that I'll have it back in time for my trip this weekend. I'm more than willing to pay whatever the cost of shipping it back to me. I emailed Christian Erhardt, who I think is the VP of Marketing for Leica U.S., asking for as much. I hope that he is responsive and able to have someone take care of this. However, I have yet to hear anything back.
I wish I could be more optimistic at this point, but it's really unclear as to whether Leica is going to come through, and it seems more likely that it won't.
I have no doubt that Leica makes wonderful cameras. I've spent too much time reading this and other Leica forums over the past six months. I believe that much of the fanaticism that Leica users have for its cameras is justified. The 30 minutes or so that I've spent handling my M8 over the past few months have revealed it to be an incredibly well-engineered camera that, in many ways, lives up to my expectations. I love my R8 and I really want to love my M8, but it's tough given the context of Leica's customer service, given the fact that I purchased the camera with what I felt was sufficient lead time for a once-in-a-decade trip. I've now spent hundreds of extra dollars postponing my trip twice in the hope that I would get my M8 back in time for it. And yet that still might not be enough.
I understand that Leica's repair operation is small compared to, say, Canon's, which can turn around a camera in a week. And it is probably under much more pressure with the popularity of the M9 and X1. However, my whole experience has been frustrating, time consuming, and costly beyond what I would expect, especially given the cost of Leica's products and its status as a revered, premium brand.
Consequently, I'm about ready to give up on that brand and just use my GF1 until someone else produces and supports a digital rangefinder with an optical viewfinder and an M-mount. I wish this wasn't the case, but it is what it is. If anyone has suggestions or contacts for resolving this issue with Leica, New Jersey, in the next couple days, I would greatly appreciate them.
Thanks,
Rick
*UPDATE*
I heard back from both my dealer and Leica this morning. They said that I'll get the camera back by Friday, so we'll see what happens. It sounds like they're going to come through. In the meantime, I wait for a tracking number.
*UPDATE 2*
I received the camera back on Friday morning as I posted here: http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1301234&postcount=123
Leica did come through for me!
*UPDATE 3*
I had a chance to test out the M8 yesterday. Leica did repair the problem with the sensor causing vertical lines on high ISO images. However, they returned the camera to me with the rangefinder vertically misaligned. I took the camera to my local dealer today, and he confirmed the issue within a minute. I don't think I have any option but to return the camera to Leica, New Jersey, once again. I think I will have spent nearly $300 on shipping and insurance and my time just on the several trips to FedEx/UPS I've had to make.
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