Seriously impressed by Leica service

[daveproctor]

I finally got round to dropping into Leica HQ in Milton Keynes to get my 35mm Summicron coded. Not sure why it's taken so long considering I've worked there for 9 years.

I called in expecting to leave the lens with them for a few days but left 15 minutes later with a coded lens - the engineer told me it took him more time to fill out the paperwork than it did to code the lens!

 

[Roger Hicks]

Dear Dave,

That is, indeed, impressive!

And before people whine and snivel about the expense, I'd invite them to consider the price of receiving, tracking and returning an order if the owner DOESN'T drop it off and pick it up.

Cheers,

R.

 

[sepiareverb]

Well I've always been very happy with Leica NJ. Responsive, attentive, and meticulous. Turnaround times can be a bit longer than I;d like, but they're faster than DAG.

 

[squirrel$$$bandit]

Well I've always been very happy with Leica NJ. Responsive, attentive, and meticulous. Turnaround times can be a bit longer than I;d like, but they're faster than DAG.

I just sent them my M8 and they have been really responsive. let's see how long it takes....

 

[swoop]

A lot of people fail to understand that the price premium on Leica products is the amazing customer service.

Twice I've had screws fall off of stuff. Which was probably due more to my rough handling than the quality of the product. And they just sent me the screws for free. No fuss or anything. Called, left a message describing the missing screw. And like two days later it was in my mailbox. It's awesome. And when I sent in my M8 for upgrading. It was flawless. It was gone for a little over a week and came back looking brand spanking new.

 

[remphoto]

I just had some interaction with Leica NJ and unfortunately my experience wasn't as positive. I bought a demo M8 which arrived DOA. This really upset me because these units are supposed to be double checked before shipping.

My selling dealer had a Leica tech call me to review the problem and concluded it had to go back to NJ for repair. The best Leica could offer was "expedited" repair of 2-3 weeks rather than the normal 8 week repair time. I had some vacation time planned and wanted it more quickly. Neither Leica nor the dealer had a replacement unit. The dealer attempted to have Leica speed up the repair but all he could get was a vague "we'll try" to do it as quickly as possible with no promises. Leica arranged a UPS pickup and upon arrival and inspection told the dealer it would take "some time" to do the repair. I told them to keep it and received a refund.

This left me with a terrible taste toward Leica digital cameras. I've owned Leicas for years (an M6 and and more recently a M4-2 which I sold to buy the M8.) Never again. At this point I plan to sell the lenses and accessories I retained to use with the M8 and use my DSLR and FD kits.

BTW, I appreciate the help I got from a couple of people affiliated with RFF who did what they could to help with this issue. Thanks!

 

[Pablito]

I sent a Leica lens to Leica NJ and asked them to loosen up the focus which was very tight since the lens was new and never loosened up with use. They charged me a lot of money and sent the lens back EXACTLY THE SAME, no improvement. I sent the same lens to Sherry K who tried to loosen up the focus it but was unable to do so. She sent it back, having worked on it but since she could not improve it, she charged me NOTHING. I will never again send anything to Leica NJ. Apparently, the machining of the focusing helicals of this copy of this lens is just not well done. "Bad quality control at Solms," Sherry said...

BTW, it was a 35mm Summicron V4

 

[peter_n]

Well I've always been very happy with Leica NJ. Responsive, attentive, and meticulous. Turnaround times can be a bit longer than I;d like, but they're faster than DAG.

This is my experience too, although I've read horror stories elsewhere, mostly about service on the M8. Most of my interaction with Leica NJ was about an M7 under Passport warranty and both NJ and Solms were terrific.

 

[SolaresLarrave]

I had a leaky M6TTL. After DAG threw up his arms in defeat trying to fix it and reproduce the leak, I sent it to Leica NJ for refurbishing or at least a thorough CLA.

It came back in a month... and it took a week to go back to its old ways.

This time I shipped it back after calling Tony, who was the repair supervisor. He said he'd expedite the repair, as I was leaving for Costa Rica in a few weeks. The camera came back in something like 12 days, and working fine.

However, six months later, it showed leaks again.

I sent it back to NJ, invoking their repair warranty.

A month later it came back... and (knock on wood) has worked like a charm.

Now, the Leica staff could have acted cantakerous, intolerant, snippy or downright rude, but they were always most cooperative, very attentive and quite nice to deal with. I have only good things to say about Dave Elwell. The few times I dealt with him (send him Leica questions and he'll reply right away) he was quick and helpful. In fact, he remembered my having mentioned a lens hood for my Elmarit 28mm (3rd version), and when he managed to get one, he sent me a note. Certainly, I paid some big money for a lens hood... but it was a brand new one! 🙂

On the other hand, I've heard all the horror stories... and they apply to Nikon as well! It seems nobody is free from getting a bad rap, regardless of their previous good deeds.

Sorry to hear about your troubles, Pablito.