adan Posted September 28, 2011 Share #1 Â Posted September 28, 2011 Advertisement (gone after registration) Sent my two-year-old M9 in to Leica USA for end-of-warranty fixes to several problems (skipping ">" navigation button, pixel-column defect (red vertical line at high ISOs), leatherette coming loose under the lens). Â Shipped Sept. 7, received back Sept 28. All correct. Â Leica, on their own initiative, also cleaned the sensor and "upgraded to current specs" whatever that means (NOT an M9-P upgrade, however - ). Â Given that my last two services 3-4 years ago took 6 and 12 weeks each for problems of roughly similar difficulty (M8 green-blob fix, M4-2 CLA and new leatherette) - that is quite an improvement! Â Of note, Leica included a "how did we do?" survey for me to fill out. So my impression is that they've finally wakened up and smelled the coffee on quality and speed of service. To me, that was the one huge weak link in Leica's operation (excepting the current "lens supply crisis"). Â A side note: on the various paperwork, Leica referred to the covering as both "leatherette" and "M8/M9 vulcanite" - so they use those terms interchangeably. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted September 28, 2011 Posted September 28, 2011 Hi adan, Take a look here Leica Service - 3-week turnaround. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
hoppyman Posted September 28, 2011 Share #2 Â Posted September 28, 2011 Andy, nice to read your positive report here after that servicing by Leica New Jersey. I know that Solms provided a feedback form at least as far back as 2009 (when the forum visit took me there). I have you beat on turnaround times from that visit though, M8 upgrade was done for next business day Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaapv Posted September 28, 2011 Share #3 Â Posted September 28, 2011 My experience as well. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronan Posted September 28, 2011 Share #4 Â Posted September 28, 2011 Not bad, but not fast ether. Â Your M9 had a lot of issues... How did you cope with it? Â Edit: Did you pay for shipping it there? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
adan Posted September 30, 2011 Author Share #5 Â Posted September 30, 2011 Well, NPS (Nikon Professional Service) was faster - when I was an accredited Nikon pro. Otherwise, 3 weeks seems about normal for most of the repairs that we send in to Canon , Nikon etc. through our shop. Took about 3 weeks for Nikon of fix and return my 5000ED scanner (paid, not under warranty). Â Define "a lot" of issues. Â These showed up after about 19-22 months of heavy use. I coped with the one that actually affected pictures (pixel defect) by removing the line, if it showed up, in Photoshop. I coped with the skipping ">" arrow by being careful in deleting images, to make sure I was scrolled to the right one(s) - otherwise I barely noticed it (menus scroll up and down, not sideways). The leatherette peel was neglible and required no "coping" - I just figured I might as well get it fixed while they had the camera for the non-cosmetic problems. Most people seem to just glue the stuff down themselves. Â I paid for shipping TO Leica - Leica paid the return. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaapv Posted September 30, 2011 Share #6 Â Posted September 30, 2011 Andy, you are comparing an amateur service to a professional service. To be fair, you should take Leica's Professional service into account. From what I have heard they have their customers shooting again within 48 hours. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
erl Posted September 30, 2011 Share #7 Â Posted September 30, 2011 Advertisement (gone after registration) Clearly New Jersey is faster than Solms! Â I sent my 35mm cron in for 6 bit coding and cleaning on August 2. Today I was told it is 'still in Germany'. When submitting it I indicated I was travelling to Europe on Oct 10 and needed the lens. I was given optimistic indications. With one week to go and 'no news', I am despondent of making my deadline. It was sent through local official Leica Service agent, who is totally competent to do the work, but not permitted by Leica, who have a stranglehold on certain service. I am less than happy. Eight weeks! .... and counting. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaapv Posted September 30, 2011 Share #8 Â Posted September 30, 2011 Erl, can't you communicate with Leica Solms to get the lens to you in Europe? It would avoid customs delays too. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
erl Posted September 30, 2011 Share #9 Â Posted September 30, 2011 Jaap, I will talk to my agent here in Melbourne on Monday apropos your suggestion. I have a 30+ year relationship with them, so if your idea is viable, they should be able to facilitate it. Of course, I won't be in Germany, only Italy, so that could be difficult. Remains to be seen. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaapv Posted September 30, 2011 Share #10 Â Posted September 30, 2011 It shouldn't be a problem, Germany to Italy by UPS is a 24 hour service and no customs. Even the mail is quite fast. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jippiejee Posted September 30, 2011 Share #11 Â Posted September 30, 2011 I sent my rattling 28mm elmarit asph lens to Solms last week, front element got loose, and could follow the progress through their tracking service. It was repaired the day after they received it, and within one week I had it back. They even included a nice black velvet bag... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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