Traditional Leica quality?

[elansprint72]

....and none of them can spell- "generalize", for goodness sake, where are we- Des Moines Iowa? He generalised.

[AlanG]

That case is cheap and ridiculously overpriced. The Leica website says it is a leather case. Premium prices imply premium quality. Otherwise it is simply a rip-off. Even "quality" synthetic or fabric should have held up better.

Sounds like a scene from Lost in America.

From Roger Ebert.com:

On the morning of his last day at work, he puts everything on hold while he has a long, luxurious telephone conversation with a Mercedes dealer. Brooks has great telephone scenes in all of his movies, but this one perfectly captures the nuances of consumerism. He asks how much the car will cost - including everything. Dealer prep, license, sticker, add-ons, extras, everything. The dealer names a price.

"That's everything?" Brooks asks.

"Except leather," the dealer says.

"For what I'm paying, I don't get leather?" Brooks asks, aghast.

"You get Mercedes leather."

"Mercedes leather? What's that?''

"Thick vinyl."
________________________________________

That being said, back around 1962, my parents bought leather-like vinyl covered dining room chairs from a Danish company called "Dux." These were not like typical leather or vinyl but simply looked like a smooth high quality modern padded material. When I sold their estate in 2004 the material was still like new. This was the best material I have ever seen.

The "Mercedes Leather" on my girlfriend's 19 year old E300 still looks great. She thought it was real leather until I told her that real leather would have shown cracks and wear long ago.

[kenneth]

Originally Posted by elansprint72

....and none of them can spell- "generalize", for goodness sake, where are we- Des Moines Iowa? He generalised.

well spotted Peter I must admit an I had not noticed the error

[elansprint72]

Originally Posted by AlanG

snip..... it is simply a rip-off. Even "quality" synthetic or fabric should have held up better.

Alan,
That is exactly how I fell about it; the case looks, feels and smells the absolute business, to find that it is not what it is sold as and breaks on first usage really pissed me off. If Dr Andreas K really reads this forum, perhaps it is about time that he became an active participant too?

[elansprint72]

Originally Posted by kenneth

well spotted Peter I must admit an I had not noticed the error

Kenneth- welcome to the forum.

[Thomas Edwards]

Originally Posted by Olof

For leather cases i advise Hermés or Louis Vuitton, Leica is only good in cameras

...i have two leica-branded cases for my cm that i am certain were produced by hermes for leica...i expected the same quality when i purchased the leather case for my d-lux3, given that the price of the 3 cases was about the same...

...all of the leather items i purchased for my german-manufactured leica products have been of rather high quality...

...conclusion = leather cases produced for the non-german-made leica products (read, the pana/lumix products) may be somewhat less than purdey quality (the exception being the leather case produced for the digi2 and the billingham-produced bags for the digi3)...

[bobtodrick]

Yeah...it really is annoying.
Just last week I ordered from my local supplier a Roots computer bag advertized as 'genuine leather'...it arrived a coupe of days later and a portion of the front flap is leather...the rest of the bag was good ole nylon.
Now at 'only' $80 bucks I didn't expect it to rival my old Billingham briefcase...but in my mind it should have been advertised 'Nylon with leather accents'.

[elansprint72]

I'm now convinced that not only is the quality crap; so is the customer service- I'm still waiting for a reply from Leica UK. The dealer sent the case to them four weeks ago- just how long does it take to look at something and send a replacement?

[SJP]

Originally Posted by elansprint72

I'm now convinced that not only is the quality crap; so is the customer service- I'm still waiting for a reply from Leica UK. The dealer sent the case to them four weeks ago- just how long does it take to look at something and send a replacement?

1-2 days to send
1-2 days to receive & set in motion
1-2 days for inspection and flow description
1-2 days to set the flow
1--10 days to process depending on capacity
1 day to send

all in all 12 working days on average and between 6 and 19 working days. The latter is about 4 weeks MAX.

So it is taking way too long.

[elansprint72]

Replacement arrived from the dealer yesterday.

..... and from Leica......... not a word. Perhaps I expect too much.

[jimmy pro]

I think it's real important to make a distinction between traditional Leica quality and legendary Leica quality. This here is an example of the first. Examples of the second are like any other legend, more fantasy than fact. These are things, whether mass produced or handmade or somewhere in between, made for the sole purpose of turning a profit for the company, period.

[leitz_not_leica]

It's outsourced.

[rob_x2004]

And here was me thinking Leica had a knackery and a tanning vat.

[leitz_not_leica]

Cost cutting and outsourcing began in the mid-70's with the M4-2 and the CL, respectively...not counting the M2 (same quality as the M3) and Schneider and Zeiss superwides of the 50's/60's, which were Leitz quality. Wetzlar R&D and factory must have been an interesting place back then, with hundreds of different accesories being prototyped and made.