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Leica Service

PeterA

Well-known member
Following up on the promised estimate "within 2 weeks", still nothing. No surprise.
Frustrating...

btw Doug I decided on an SL after testing it for a week or so...your comments regarding the EVF were very helpful to me in my evaluation ( why don't they fix this via firmware?) - I also discovered a flaw/weakness in auto focusing with the 90-280 in circumstances where there is little contrast between background and subject - these aside, it is a camera good enough to have been called the R10. Fix the EVF issue and provide the option of a 40-50 megapixel chip as an option for landscape shooting....is all I can see missing.
 

algrove

Well-known member
Frustrating...

btw Doug I decided on an SL after testing it for a week or so...your comments regarding the EVF were very helpful to me in my evaluation ( why don't they fix this via firmware?) - I also discovered a flaw/weakness in auto focusing with the 90-280 in circumstances where there is little contrast between background and subject - these aside, it is a camera good enough to have been called the R10. Fix the EVF issue and provide the option of a 40-50 megapixel chip as an option for landscape shooting....is all I can see missing.
Until the S is substantially upgraded with a new sensor, I see no other Leica camera getting a sensor that exceeds the current S007.
 

rich_

Member
I dropped off my M240 at the start of July for the rangefinder to be calibrated (infinity was off, 2 years of bumping it around had taken its toll?) and for my 35mm lux asph to have its wobbly barrel fixed. Its 20 odd years old and had been getting progressively worse...
The City London branch wasn't so helpful, suggesting that I visit the Mayfair branch for it to be sent away. The Mayfair branch have been responsive and helpful whist I wait. fingers crossed they both arrive back at the start of September!
My Camera and lens arrived back on the 18th. So around 6 weeks to have my Summilux repaired and rangefinder re-calibrated. Happy with the service and my Lens has never felt as sturdy (although focusing a bit stiff right now and i'm sure it's heavier! perhaps the bits causing it to wobble previous had sheared away and then were replaced, Or i'm too used to the Q!)

I bought myself an old 50mm Elmar to celebrate. Hopefully I still use the Q! :)
 

baudolino

Active member
Got a call today from Leica Store Wien today that my S 24 mm is repaired and ready to be collected, exactly two weeks after I dropped it off there with a faulty AF motor. Can't complain.
 

Bernard

Member
I finally got my S back as well, after two and a half months. The communication got slightly better near the end, but not to the point where emails get answered quickly. You really need to get somebody on the phone before they will reply to your emails.

That being said, the camera itself is so good that the level of service is almost tolerable. I certainly wouldn't put up with it if I could get the same package and results from another brand.

Just to summarize, the slow turnaround is one problem, but the lack of communication is also a problem.
It shouldn't take over two months to ship the camera to Germany and back. Hasselblad has sent some of my equipment to Sweden and back in a couple of weeks.
Emails should be answered. Spending a half hour on the phone (mostly on hold) just to get a status is a waste of everybody's time.

It should be interesting to see what the whole "Leica for Professionals" thing is at Photokina. I hope it will be a real effort to improve the level of support for working pros, and not just a marketing campaign where they give free cameras to a few top shooters in exchange for positive write-ups.
 

Woody Campbell

Workshop Member
Well finally I can chime in with my experience. Late last year I bought a second Monochrom body so that I could carry a two-body/two-lens setup and to have a backup in case there was a service issue with my existing Monochrom. After my new body arrived I sent the old one in to NJ for service, including a sensor replacement. It came back in April completely refurbished and in excellent working condition. In the meantime the frame line lever came of of my new Monochrom and disappeared, probably on the streets of NY So . . .

In mid April 2016 I sent to Leica NJ for service the following:

The new Monochrom with the missing frame lever with instructions to replace it with a chrome lever if possible (a little vanity on my part).

My 135 APO Telyt for a CLA and 6-bit coding. The lens was apparently performing well but it's a nuisance not having it coded.

My 50mm Sumichrom Asp. The is one of the earliest copies of this lens - its been in continuous heavy daily use for three years. I sent it in asking for a CLA and asked them to check that it was in spec from a flair standpoint. I had read the early flair controversy on the lens but never sorted out whether there was really a problem because I was satisfied with the lens. The front segment of the lens mount had developed a slight amount of play. My back up 50mm is a pristine 50mm rigid Sumichron from 1962 so I could suffer the absence of the Asp. in good humor.

Not a peep until the end of May when I received 3 email acknowledgements of receipt that ended with "Thank you and have a nice day", which irritated me sufficiently that I sent back a fairly tough replay.

Nothing further until early July when I received estimates back from Leica by email for the 135 APO and body, but not the 50mm APO. I received a separate email note on July 13 that the lens had been sent to Germany for repairs.

The Monochrom and the Telyt arrived back on my doorstep on Sept 1. I have no idea of where the 50mm Asp. since Leica doesn't reply to emails and the voice mail box in NJ is full so you can't leave a message.

The Monochrom is perfect and a pleasure to shoot with. The Telyt seemed fine with minor issues; it was returned detailing a significant amount of work, and shooting over the past several days suggests that it deserves it reputation as the best 135 every by any manufacturer.

So there you have it, the good and the bad of Leica. Expect a 4 month turn around on repairs and maintenance, at least until they get the M sensor replacements and S autofocus issues sorted. The good part is that for me the Monochrom and M lenses are without peer in their niche. Bottom line: if you're relying on this stuff for serious work on a daily basis you need to plan on a serious backup strategy, which makes an expensive system even more so.
 
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sjg284

Member
I'm 6 weeks in on what is supposed to be a simple CLA on an M 240..
Was under the impression it would be done by now, not tried to ping for an update yet.
Unfortunately every step of the way has been slower than expected with poor communication.
Lot's of missed calls, unanswered emails and voicemail.
I even have some mails where a Leica employee emailed a 2nd employee (with me cc'ed) asking for status with no answer (for 2 weeks).

I'm glad there's humans involved, and it's not some infinite web of outsourced vendors and ticketing systems from hell..
I just wish there was a bit more transparency and proactive communication.
 

doug

Well-known member
Following up on the promised estimate "within 2 weeks", still nothing. No surprise.
Another 2 weeks, still no estimate however Sarah Mayville @ Leica USA responding to my e-mail on September 1, asked Kevin Mamouzette (also at Leica USA) to look into this repair. No further response, no surprise.
 

sjg284

Member
Another 2 weeks, still no estimate however Sarah Mayville @ Leica USA responding to my e-mail on September 1, asked Kevin Mamouzette (also at Leica USA) to look into this repair. No further response, no surprise.
Haha, those are the exact two who I was referring to in my last post..
 

PeterA

Well-known member
I am somewhat embarassed to say that my MM ( CCD ) version of course has been sent to Leica for replacement of corroded chip - I was told that this was one of the worst examples of corrosion ever seen ETA is 10 weeks from 2 weeks ago my M9 (strangely) which is 3 years older than the MM evidences no corrosion issues at all...I've been mucking around with an MP 240 for a few weeks and have to say that I am not convinced that rangefinders will be part of my longer term kit ...
 

aDam007

New member
I've tried to refrain from writing on this topic as you all know I have a long history or terrible repair issues with Leica. So much so it's a large part of what I decided to abandon Leica as a supplier of my professional photographic tools.

Anyway, I'm in the process of selling off ALL my Leica gear and of course out of nowhere while shooting my S-006 and 100S on assignment the 100S just stops working. No AF response at all. I figure what the heck let me just finish this shoot with manual focus.. Nope. The ring freely spins and noting happens. Maybe once every 3-4 full turns the gear will catch and adjust the element slightly.. Anyway I had to finish the shoot with my backup kit (not Leica).. And with this my S-lens failure rate is now over 100%

How is being over 100% possible you ask? All my S-lenses have had AF failures. Some have had more then one failure. Thus over 100% failure rate. YAY!

I'm not even going to get into all the other issues I've had with M/SL/T bodies, lenses and etc.



Then today my friend went in to get his S-006 grip replaced (theses things disintegrate and fall off ever 6 months it seems). Anyway, while the service centre was replacing it, they decided to clean his sensor and "found" that it was cracked. Now the suspicious thing was that he shoots routinely stopped down. And hasn't noticed anything weird with the sensor before. Anyway, bottom line, they had to send it to Germany. Here's the kick in the teeth. He has the Platinum loaner warranty, and they refused to give him a loaner. He texted me with the news and I convinced him he needed to fight for the loaner because it was owed to him. After going back to the service centre and fighting, they agreed to give him a S2 loaner, which I wouldn't have stood for, but he is a milder man then I am.

Anyway, while he was negotiating a loaner unit. They offered to upgrade him to the S-007 for the low low fee of $15,000 SGD. Which is roughly $12,000 USD. Considering we can get brand new S-007s in HK for $13,000 USD.. They basically offered him $1,000 USD trade in value on his S-006 w/2 years left on the loaner swap warranty.. WTF kind of customer service is that?

(Just an FYI that camera was a lot of money not to long ago) None of this inspires confidence in the brand. None of this makes me or anyone else I know wanna be loyal. And most of all, it makes me sad because I really honestly believe the S-006 is the best sensor to ever hit the market, nothing tops it.. Believe me I've spent hundreds in color profiling software and hardware.. Nothing beats the S-006. But it's just so difficult to own a system when the support or quality of manufacturing isn't there. Who would have though that Leica would be worse then China built crap?

Viva Andreas Kaufmann "the man who saved Leica".
 

doug

Well-known member
Another 2 weeks, still no estimate however Sarah Mayville @ Leica USA responding to my e-mail on September 1, asked Kevin Mamouzette (also at Leica USA) to look into this repair. No further response, no surprise.
Quick update: I spoke briefly with my "local" dealer (Camera West Walnut Creek) about Leica's service and after describing my current experience he said "You're not alone."
 
V

Vivek

Guest
I know this does not do anything to Leica's service but let me point out that Sony who farm out their service and repairs are not great either.

My second sample of a RX1R II (the first was recalled for a manufacturing and or design flaw) is at a reapir facility for 6 weeks and ther is no sign of real service. I can call ( so can a Canon or Nikon, or casio or a photocopy machine customer) to check what is going on. After 6 weeks they have received a part to repair the camera and are now sitting on it. It is possible that I contact a sony head honcho to complain but that would be only ahead of the next time it has to be serviced.

This is not a cheap P&S cybershot but Sony's premium cybershot camera with many tech innovations costing (currently) no less than €4199/-!
 

sjg284

Member
So my credit card was finally charged on Friday (they've had the number on file for over a month).
So should I take that to mean they are a) starting physical work on the camera, b) finishing&about to ship, or.. c) they just remembered to run the card and it adds no further info to my ETA..?
 

sjg284

Member
OK repaired camera just showed up today.

So one can infer "charge on card" to mean - service is done, camera is shipping.

Of course I got 0 heads up that the camera was coming back to me, so of course I had no tracking number, etc.

I live in a building with package acceptance service, so I don't mind.. but I can see those in suburban dwellings wanting to know a $$$$ box is on it's way...
 

Paratom

Well-known member
Sad to hear how many people had negative experience.
I have had mostly good experience from Leica service but I also do live very close to Leica and the store has a good relationship to Leica.
All customers should be served equally good, no matter from which area and which people they know.
I hope Leica learns soon.
 

fotoism

Member
Is it just me? I feel Leica's priority is not in service, but in bringing in new products (newly developed or re-badged)?
 

rich_

Member
I think the service relates to the Leica dealership you contact.
I've had good service from the London boutiques.

It's difficult to compare Grey import HK purchases with RRP Leica deals. If you want to buy in a Leica shop with the full service fanfare then you go there. If not, then save a buck and buy grey import!I bought many items in HK over the years whilst living out there.
Value for money has never been a strong-point, I've also always found it more efficient to sell a camera privately, than to use their trade up programs (I had the 8,9P, and M).
 
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