After 3 years at Malcolm Taylor's, will my lens have fungus?

[dkCambridgeshire]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

Are you planning to use the lens on a film M or a digital M camera?

 

dunk

[plasticman]

I'm hoping delivery can finally be arranged next week - Mr Taylor is asking UPS whether they’re willing to re-deliver the lens without further payment, as they didn't appear to follow the correct procedure the first time. Otherwise I've offered to pay recorded-delivery postage instead.

 

My original plan was to use the lens on digital M cameras, but during the time that's passed I've upgraded to shooting almost exclusively film. So for a period last week I was hunting around for a Canon 7, but when it comes to rangefinders I find that Leica spoils you for other manufacturers, whose viewfinders are never as clear or as sharp*, so I reverted to my other recent plan of simply selling the lens as soon as I get it back.

 

So many changes can happen in photographic taste over half a decade.

 

* just for the record I mean cameras that are around 50 years old or more.

[k_g_wolf ✝]

>> plasticman

 

Since nxt week is over again: Any positive news these days about the whereabouts

of your lens ??

 

And: is it working now as it should ?

 

Best

GEORG

[plasticman]

>> plasticman

 

Since nxt week is over again: Any positive news these days about the whereabouts

of your lens ??

 

And: is it working now as it should ?

 

Best

GEORG

Hi Georg

 

One of my kids was ill last week - nothing serious but it kept me busy - so I neglected to follow-up on the lens until Thursday afternoon. With any luck I should be getting it sometime next week instead. Fingers crossed.

[earleygallery]

Good luck with that!

 

I'm getting a strong smell of something nasty right now....

[jaapv]

I am starting to suspect luck has not much to do with it any more.

[plasticman]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

I'm gonna have the local Leica repairer look the lens over when it comes. I don't think there's anything particularly suspect about the latest delays - more like I'm a very low (or non-existent) priority now.

 

We'll see next week.

[plasticman]

This is just a side note - a small interlude in the ongoing saga of the Canon 0,95 - but I thought I'd just make an extra (unconnected) observation about UPS.

 

I ordered a hard disk that should have been delivered by UPS to my office today. UPS have my cellphone number, email address, the phone number to the reception at the office and all the details necessary to get here. The office is a typical brand-new high-tech building with clearly labelled intercom systems at the door and multiple elevators, with clearly marked company names, and our office (which occupies a whole floor) is always manned with a reception and customer service group that is constantly here from 7:30 in the morning to around 18:30 in the evening.

 

And yet when I checked the status of my delivery at lunchtime, the courier had written: "Driver needs security access which must be obtained from resident/consignee in order to enter building."

 

When I rang the (almost secret) local UPS customer service number they just mumbled the usual excuses, but absolutely skirted any sort of apology. And now the hard disk is re-scheduled for delivery tomorrow. This sort of thing always happens with UPS, without exception I think, and I can't help wonder how the company can be profitable when one factors in multiple trips, vans that drive back and forth to the same address, gas that's consumed, time wasted, just because the first driver couldn't be bothered to press an intercom button and get buzzed-in to our building like everyone else. Mind-blowing.

[earleygallery]

I'm gonna have the local Leica repairer look the lens over when it comes. I don't think there's anything particularly suspect about the latest delays - more like I'm a very low (or non-existent) priority now.

 

You mean to say you thought you were 'high priority' until now??!

 

Most couriers are useless. They only deliver when I'm at work and getting to their depot is often difficult. I actively try to avoid them preferring Royal Mail who will deliver on a Saturday or at least can deliver to your nearest post office for collection.

 

My new phone was delivered by courier. No, they wouldn't deliver to a work place. No they can't deliver at weekends. I said I'd collect from their depot, as I would be out any time they called. Fine. I drove to the depot to be told "it's on the van for delivery today"! I had to go back the next day and had to wait ages for them to find the package so I was late for work. I was told that I was lucky, it was just about to go back out on the van!! Arrrghhhh!!!!

[M9reno]

The local pizza delivery, who have delivered to our house probably once a week for the past four years, seem to be unable to knock on our door, and instead phone to announce that they are standing outside. Every time, we tell them to walk five meters to our door, which they seem unable to do unprompted.

[bill]

I have written to the Archbish. of Blighty recommending that Mani be considered for beatification as a prelude to sainthood. "St. Mani the Infinitely Patient" has a certain ring to it...

[plasticman]

I'm really not that patient and definitely not saintly. But there's really not so much I can do about the lens situation from here, so I decided not to get angry or annoyed about it.

 

When (if?) the lens finally arrived, I planned to write a checklist of things to think about when dealing with Mr Taylor from overseas. In case I don't have time or inclination to do it later, I'd just say now that these days it's simply a massive inconvenience not to be able to communicate via mail or online in some form.

 

Telephone calls with Mr Taylor were lengthy and mostly inconclusive, and because I didn't want to disturb him at weekends or evenings they turned-out very expensive.

 

But most of all was the impossibility of getting an oral agreement to lead to any actual outcome. I feel that a mail with written instructions and the possibility to follow-up would have transformed the situation.

 

As it is, I often let weeks (or even months) go by after a promised deadline had elapsed, simply because it felt like a massive chore to pick up the phone and ring again, when I knew the outcome would be the same excuses and procrastination, followed by a new and ineffective deadline that neither of us believed in.

 

It seems that Mr Taylor is great if you can deal with him face-to-face, and even more so if the job that needs doing is one of his 'bread-and-butter' tasks. But from my experience I'd really recommend going elsewhere if you aren't at least reasonably local, and/or have a fix to do that's somehow out of the ordinary.

 

As I understand it, DAG does a wonderful job on these conversions, for a reasonable price. Live and learn.

[k-hawinkler]

BTW, Don Goldberg is also fluent in German.

He learned his trade at Leica in Wetzlar a long time ago.

[dkCambridgeshire]

I'm really not that patient and definitely not saintly. But there's really not so much I can do about the lens situation from here, so I decided not to get angry or annoyed about it.

 

When (if?) the lens finally arrived, I planned to write a checklist of things to think about when dealing with Mr Taylor from overseas. In case I don't have time or inclination to do it later, I'd just say now that these days it's simply a massive inconvenience not to be able to communicate via mail or online in some form.

 

Telephone calls with Mr Taylor were lengthy and mostly inconclusive, and because I didn't want to disturb him at weekends or evenings they turned-out very expensive.

 

But most of all was the impossibility of getting an oral agreement to lead to any actual outcome. I feel that a mail with written instructions and the possibility to follow-up would have transformed the situation.

 

As it is, I often let weeks (or even months) go by after a promised deadline had elapsed, simply because it felt like a massive chore to pick up the phone and ring again, when I knew the outcome would be the same excuses and procrastination, followed by a new and ineffective deadline that neither of us believed in.

 

It seems that Mr Taylor is great if you can deal with him face-to-face, and even more so if the job that needs doing is one of his 'bread-and-butter' tasks. But from my experience I'd really recommend going elsewhere if you aren't at least reasonably local, and/or have a fix to do that's somehow out of the ordinary.

 

As I understand it, DAG does a wonderful job on these conversions, for a reasonable price. Live and learn.

 

 

Other specialist/expert Leica technicians do not answer Email enquiries or publish their current Email addresses because they have in the past been inundated with enquiries from time wasting people seeking e.g. historical information, valuations, opinions and answers to questions / queries which they could probably answer themselves if they bothered to do a bit of online or forum research. Thus it's understandable why MT appears not to have an accessible Email address.

 

When I needed an estimate for a Leica repair (see post No. 75 herein) I contacted the technician directly by phone because I was aware that an Email would not be answered. When I subsequently visited the technician he advised that if he answered all the Emails he receives daily from all over the world he would waste hours every day sitting in front of a computer rather than attending to repairs.

 

dunk

[plasticman]

That's interesting information. I can't recall there's been any other transaction I've experienced the last ten(?) years where I wasn't able to maintain contact or check on progress online somehow.

 

In this case, where events didn't ever flow as expected, I found it was a really debilitating factor. Each phone call went over the exact same ground as the previous one, no matter how hard I tried to steer it or stick to my intended program; and all actions ran out into the sand.

 

Quite sad to hear that none of these repairers have thought fit to implement at least some sort of private system for communicating with their customers other than by phone. Because of the demand for their services I guess they don't feel they need to. And if things are going well, then the customer probably doesn't need it either. But would it be too much to ask for them to share their work mail-address with people who have equipment waiting to be fixed?

[dkCambridgeshire]

That's interesting information. I can't recall there's been any other transaction I've experienced the last ten(?) years where I wasn't able to maintain contact or check on progress online somehow.

 

In this case, where events didn't ever flow as expected, I found it was a really debilitating factor. Each phone call went over the exact same ground as the previous one, no matter how hard I tried to steer it or stick to my intended program; and all actions ran out into the sand.

 

Quite sad to hear that none of these repairers have thought fit to implement at least some sort of private system for communicating with their customers other than by phone. Because of the demand for their services I guess they don't feel they need to. And if things are going well, then the customer probably doesn't need it either. But would it be too much to ask for them to share their work mail-address with people who have equipment waiting to be fixed?

 

Email addresses are soon leaked … Put yourself in their positions and consider the numbers of enquiries they would receive .. Answering Emails can be very time intensive and non-income earning for a small trader

 

dunk

[plasticman]

Email addresses are soon leaked … Put yourself in their positions and consider the numbers of enquiries they would receive .. Answering Emails can be very time intensive and non-income earning for a small trader

 

dunk

 

Well it's a trivial task to auto-filter incoming emails according to different criteria - which could include a whitelisted set of customer addresses. And naturally they're under no obligation to spend time answering unwanted or irrelevant communication. But I take your point.

 

Just for the record though, I happened to notice I spent the equivalent of £20 talking on the phone to Mr Taylor during December. I haven't checked before, but I'm guessing it was probably at least £100 over the five years as a whole.

[farnz]

Luigi used to be the same - at times - and getting a response from him was difficult and getting a response from Morgan Spark at Cameraleather was nearly impossible so it's not just repairers. I believe that Leicatime's response has vastly improved since he took on employees.

 

Pete.

[gyoung]

Well it's a trivial task to auto-filter incoming emails according to different criteria - which could include a whitelisted set of customer addresses. And naturally they're under no obligation to spend time answering unwanted or irrelevant communication. But I take your point.

 

Just for the record though, I happened to notice I spent the equivalent of £20 talking on the phone to Mr Taylor during December. I haven't checked before, but I'm guessing it was probably at least £100 over the five years as a whole.

 

Well it might be a trivial task to you, and even I would manage it if I wanted too, but I know a lot of people who are as old as or older than me who really see no point in devoting a lot of time and mental effort to coming to grips with IT when they have managed well without it all their lives.

On the few (4) occasions Malcom Taylor has done work for me I have never had any problems communicating with him by phone. He has been repairing Leicas for a very long time so must be at least as old as me, so well into what most of us see as retirement times. Better for us I think if he keeps going fixing Leicas (and I think he will do an old Nikon or Canon) than farting around with on-line progress checking software and sorting through emails asking daft questions to find the genuine ones

 

Gerry

[Advertisement]

Hallo,

Look here: Interesting Leica gear

[jaapv]

Luigi used to be the same - at times - and getting a response from him was difficult and getting a response from Morgan Spark at Cameraleather was nearly impossible so it's not just repairers. I believe that Leicatime's response has vastly improved since he took on employees.

 

Pete.

It is actually Luigi's daughter who has sorted out his communication.