Solms Leica M4 repair/service costs !urgent!

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giatzakc

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Hello everybody,
this is my first post here.
I need some help/opinions on what I should do....

I bought a Leica M4 from a friend a few months back for around 550 Euro. He told me it had no cla or repair work done ever (and I trust him). I sent it to a local Leica dealer (Athens, Greece) for shutter speeds adjustment and cleaning and I paid 60 euro. After I shot around 7 or 8 rolls the wind lever was stuck midway and wouldn't move. I sent it for repair to the same shop and was told that the repair guy needed to replace some parts of the shutter adjust speeds, curtain etc. and for that I paid 92 euro. After that I shot around 5 or 6 rolls and sudenly midroll the wind lever was stuck again. I decided to send it to Solms via the Athens dealer and the repair estimate arrived at 777 euro !!! This price includes a complete CLA and a separate shutter adjustment (that costs 78 euro) and two shutter curtains (around 42 euro each).
What would you do? Have it repaired at Solms? Send it somewhere else? Not repair it at all?
Thanks for your help in advance.
chris
 
The middleman won't charge me more than what is on the estimate from solms. Are you saying that the prices from Solms are inflated and some of the money goes to the middleman?
c
 
If I am reading you correctly, the same fault has reappeared three times, which suggests that the original 'repairer' didn't do much of a job.

Although 777 euros is probably more than the camera is worth, you'll have a reliable, Leica-guaranteed camera at the end of it, so (sadly) that's probably the best bet.

Cheers,

R.
 
giatzakc said:
The middleman won't charge me more than what is on the estimate from solms. Are you saying that the prices from Solms are inflated and some of the money goes to the middleman?
c
Click to expand...


I dont know your specifics other than what you wrote; but, yes, generally stores markup quotes since they're in it to make money. I would send mine to a respected Leica tech, unless replacements were needed that only Leica had in its possession.

EDIT: Roger makes a good point (post #5).
 
Last edited:
The Athens shop should not have charged you again to repair the shutter after they botched the first shutter repair.

Any camera repaired by Leica in Solms is going to be extremely expensive, even if you send it yourself. I think the shop ruined your camera.

It's silly to spend more than the camera is worth to fix it.
 
Send it to CRR Luton in the UK or Will Van Manen as mentioned earlier. They are cheaper and I bet you a tenner that they will do as fine job as Solms. They are also both in the EU.
 
Rogrund said:
He's great.
Click to expand...

I doubt that. The guy I bought my M4 from said it had been CLA'd by them and the camera was in not a good shape. I needed to take it to a local and very high regarded repair man here in Germany - Mr. Reinhardt near Hannover - twice. And the camera did have it's original L seal. So either the Dutch use that one, too, or there was a guy not very honest to me. 🙁

Edit: Costs for lever repair ( I had a similar issue like you) were between what you paid to the Greek shop and what Leica will charge.
 
Florian1234 said:
I doubt that. The guy I bought my M4 from said it had been CLA'd by them and the camera was in not a good shape. I needed to take it to a local and very high regarded repair man here in Germany - Mr. Reinhardt near Hannover - twice. And the camera did have it's original L seal. So either the Dutch use that one, too, or there was a guy not very honest to me. 🙁

Edit: Costs for lever repair ( I had a similar issue like you) were between what you paid to the Greek shop and what Leica will charge.
Click to expand...

Mr. Reinhardt is the other eu repair shop I am considering....
 
Regrettably, it may be cheaper to sell it as a 'repairable' camera, then buy one that works, in comparison with the total of what you have spent so far plus the Solms estimate.

🙁
 
All kinds of people work on Leicas. That does not mean they know what they are doing. Yours is clearly incopotent and should rerepair for free. Problem is should you trust him?
My opinion is write it off.


People like CC Lutton in England, but I am sure there are other competent ones.

As for cost, all costs are sunk and gone. Decide if a competent repair is worth it to get the camera going.

One aside, My first like would jam after a roll or two. Several worked on it and the problem kept coming back. It was finally diagnosed as film chips in the shutter track which previous people missed. Leica in USA corrected the problem. You get this if you try to pull an extra frame or two and the sprocket holes tear out and the chips go where they should not. Been fine for 25 years now
 
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