jhluxton Posted January 19, 2011 Share #1 Posted January 19, 2011 Advertisement (gone after registration) Until a couple of days ago I have been a happy and loyal Leica customer since the early 00s when I bought my first Fuji based Digilux. Then the Leica Digilux 1, through a succession of digtal Leicas from the Panasonic partnership, plus a pair of Ultravids binocs through to new Leica X1 only two weeks ago. However, on Saturday whilst out with my V-lux 1 I somehow managed to fail to engage the lens hood of my V Lux 1 properly and it fell off. No big issue except for the fact that I was standing on a walkway next to the River Mersey. Needless to say as luck would have it lens hood falls off and rolls under the railings into the river! Annoying but these things happen - I lost a pair of specs in the same location four years ago! Anyway, I phoned Leica UK HQ at Mayfair on Saturday afternoon but was told that the spares department were only open Monday to Friday. Thus I sent an email requesting a quote for a replacement hood. In my mind £25.00 appeared a reasonable figure. On Monday I was advised by the spares department that a replacement could be obtained for £79.00 inc P&P. I actually asked them to order me one by return email. However, a contact who uses a Panasonic FZ50 the V-Lux1 equivelent told me to check the Panasonic web site as the lens hood for this camera was only £11.90 inc P&P. After posting a notice on this forum checking to see if the Panasonic version was a compatible fitting and receiving confirmation that it was, I fired off another email to Leica cancelling my request for a replacement yesterday morning and ordered the Panasonic version. It arrived today and is identical. I challenge Leica UK to justify the £67.10 difference in price on the same item. The camera cost me £565 new yet a replacement lens hood nothing more than a ring of plastic was costing 14% of the purchase price. Where was the £67.10 difference going? The fact they were going to order me one - did that mean contacting Pansonic - getting one from them and then sending it on and making a whopping profit into the bargain. This just doesn't appear right. Has anyone had similar experiences? John Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted January 19, 2011 Posted January 19, 2011 Hi jhluxton, Take a look here Leica Digital Rip-Off on PanaLeica spares.. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
andybarton Posted January 19, 2011 Share #2 Posted January 19, 2011 You should write to Leica UK and ask them. They obviously won't respond here. Leica spare parts have always been expensive. A small square of soft plastic -the lens zap for a 35 hood costs over £20. And there are no Japanese alternatives. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jhluxton Posted January 19, 2011 Author Share #3 Posted January 19, 2011 You should write to Leica UK and ask them. They obviously won't respond here. Leica spare parts have always been expensive. A small square of soft plastic -the lens zap for a 35 hood costs over £20. And there are no Japanese alternatives. Andy Yes I will write when I get some time at the weekend. With regards to your comment about a 35 cap but that is a unique fitting. I once paid £25 for for a new lens cap for a Contax G1 lens in the 1990s so I know things like this can be a bit expensive. I even thought £25 to replace the lens hood for the V-Lux would be fine, probably even more and I wouldn't have been concerned. But here we are not talking Japanese alternatives - my replacement is EXACTLY the same as the lost one and probably came off the same production line. My point is £67.10 difference for EXACTLY the same item and possibly a wait if ordered from Leica. Would it not have been more honest for them to suggest buying from Panasonic in the first place? John Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andybarton Posted January 19, 2011 Share #4 Posted January 19, 2011 Write and ask them and tell us what they say. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
earleygallery Posted January 19, 2011 Share #5 Posted January 19, 2011 I think the extra money was going to help towards the rent on that Mayfair pad! It is a big difference, but then you could have bought the Panasonic camera and saved more. I'm guessing with the hood a large proportion of the difference will be due to their lower volumes (they will be buying them off Panasonic after all) and their higher overall costs as a smaller, German business. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jhluxton Posted January 19, 2011 Author Share #6 Posted January 19, 2011 I think the extra money was going to help towards the rent on that Mayfair pad! It is a big difference, but then you could have bought the Panasonic camera and saved more. I'm guessing with the hood a large proportion of the difference will be due to their lower volumes (they will be buying them off Panasonic after all) and their higher overall costs as a smaller, German business. No one objects to a reasonable margin and I would sooner support Leica being a niche brand, thus 100% would not be unreasonable - £25.00 ish but here we are talking several hundred percent difference. Incidentally about 18 months to two years ago when Leica were at Luton I reported that one of the lens caps on my 10x32 Ultravids had parted from its rubber hinge. I quite expected to be charged but received two new ones "with compliments". John Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ho_co Posted January 20, 2011 Share #7 Posted January 20, 2011 Advertisement (gone after registration) jh, isn't it a little strange for one person to tell a business what a fair margin is? Do you tell the grocer he's making too much on lettuce, or the auto dealer he's making too much on hub caps. I bought a replacement cloth strap for a Leica p&s from Leica for $24.95. From a retailer I ordered a very similar strap for $1.95. Did I come here and announce that Leica were idiots? Of course, Leica prices stuff high. I think a rear M lens cap was over $20 last time I checked. They've got, what, 3 cents worth of plastic in that? I don't think you've worked in retail, where you'd find out about real discrepancies between cost and selling price. "I feel your pain." You've returned the Leica hood and kept the Panasonic hood. Good for you. Did you replace your glasses? Talk to someone in the optician business and find out where your money really went. But that's a US thing, maybe not the same where you are. Anyway, best of luck! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolfgang Esslinger Posted January 20, 2011 Share #8 Posted January 20, 2011 It's spare parts where companies make their money because frequently you don't have an alternative (or find the alternative embarrassing...). Just look at the razor industry (both dry and wet). But that is just a consumer perspective. I am sure the manufacturer or retailer will have plenty of reasons (handling, low volume etc) why a simple piece of plastic must cost what it costs! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shootist Posted January 20, 2011 Share #9 Posted January 20, 2011 Simple fact is you bought the Leica camera for way to much money also. IT IS the exact same camera as the one sold by Panasonic and made by Panasonic. Everyone that buys these cameras may THINK they are buying a Leica but in all reality they are not. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Thawley Posted January 20, 2011 Share #10 Posted January 20, 2011 I know it's no consolation, but for what it's worth, the sunshade for my Canon lenses (short range zoom) was insulting on two counts. a.) it didn't come with the lens (L series $1000+ retail) and b.) the price was $59. I don't think you can offer Canon the excuse of low volume. Henry Ford once said that if customers where REQUIRED to service their car at the dealer, they could afford to give you the car. Either way, the mark-up you're describing is definitely outrageous. Just an FYI for "shootist." I can assure you people that acquire a Panasonic DMC LC1 with a faulty sensor would argue they'd rather have the Leica Digilux 2 with the faulty sensor. One is still serviced at no charge while the other is not. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
vicpeh Posted January 20, 2011 Share #11 Posted January 20, 2011 Hmm... but can't help thinking - don't you think that you had been ripped off when you first purchased the Leica V-Lux 1? The Panasonic version is much cheaper, isn't it? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
aciel ton anap Posted January 20, 2011 Share #12 Posted January 20, 2011 The price you have to pay for admission to an exclusive club. You can buy a Tudor or the one that says Rolex, both made by the same company. an old chinese saying.. "When without money, eat wild vegetable at home ; When have money, eat same wild vegetable in fine restaurant." Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jhluxton Posted January 20, 2011 Author Share #13 Posted January 20, 2011 [quote name=Did you replace your glasses? Talk to someone in the optician business and find out where your money really went. But that's a US thing' date=' maybe not the same where you are. Anyway, best of luck![/quote] Yes I did replace those glasses which I lost at almost the same location as the lens hood. They cost me over £325! - They also just happened not to be run of the mill - but rather expensive German ones! John Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jhluxton Posted January 20, 2011 Author Share #14 Posted January 20, 2011 Simple fact is you bought the Leica camera for way to much money also. IT IS the exact same camera as the one sold by Panasonic and made by Panasonic. Everyone that buys these cameras may THINK they are buying a Leica but in all reality they are not. I very much knew the V-Lux 1 it was a Panasonic with a Leica badge and was happy to spend what was probably around a 40% premium to get the red dot and be different from the herd. But the camera itself looked different as a complete object. The lens hood was the same object as the Panasonic! John Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jhluxton Posted January 20, 2011 Author Share #15 Posted January 20, 2011 [quote name=Henry Ford once said that if customers where REQUIRED to service their car at the dealer' date=' they could afford to give you the car. Either way, the mark-up you're describing is definitely outrageous. Just an FYI for "shootist." I can assure you people that acquire a Panasonic DMC LC1 with a faulty sensor would argue they'd rather have the Leica Digilux 2 with the faulty sensor. One is still serviced at no charge while the other is not. [/quote] First of all I have owned a Ford for years - but change it often - about every three years - I have never kept it long enough for the servicing to appear unreasonable! I also had a Digilux 2 which went kaput and was happy to accept the D3 upgrade at half price which I also thought a very good deal. It is only the lens hood which has annoyed me. John Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ho_co Posted January 20, 2011 Share #16 Posted January 20, 2011 ... IT IS the exact same camera as the one sold by Panasonic and made by Panasonic... Actually, in the case of the V-Lux 1, the video specs on the Leica are different from those of the comparable Panasonic model. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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