Customer Service Solms: Not Happy

[bocaburger]

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That is correct. On Leica's website the contact details for the Pro Service are clearly set out; they run through Solms, not Allendale.

 

 

It's the same with the 1-yr warranty extension on the M9. Brenda in Allendale told me Solms "doesn't allow us to participate". Nonetheless the gentleman Marco in Solms with whom I dealt told me in an email that should the camera need repair under that warranty, It would be honored by Leica NJ.

[roydonian]

Perhaps I am being cynical, but to my mind the need to have a ‘fast track’ servicing arrangement simply illustrates that today’s Leica company has inherited the lackadaisical repair philosophy of the old Leitz company. For a product with a Leica pricetag, repair times should be measured in days, not weeks, months, or even seasons of the year.

 

On my first visit to the old London premises of Leitz some 50 years ago, I heard an irate customer express his anger over a predicted repair time. “Five to six weeks” he raged. “Don’t you mean five to six days?”

 

It can be done. In the days when the UK’s Acoustical manufacturing Company and its Quad hif-fi equipment occupied the sort of market niche that Leica currently enjoys, the company’s owner boasted that defective equipment arriving by posted would be repaired and posted back by the close of the following working day. An owner who turned up at the factory at 9am with a faulty item would receive it back by 5pm that day.

 

There was a down side to this, of course. One of the factors that drove up the cost of Quad products was the need to finance the sort of well-staffed and well-equipped repair department required to produce this level of service. But customers were prepared to pay this price.

 

I recall a US press photographer saying several decades ago that one reason he used Nikon equipment was that the Japanese company had a mobile repair facility that it deployed to major sports events so that repairs could be done on the spot.

[archi4]

All my contacts and the help, service and results received from Solms have been wonderful. And this without exception over many years

maurice

[scsambrook]

Well, poor old Ralph1464 seems to have got a good kicking for daring to moan about a perceived failure of Leica's service department to deliver whatever he thought he was going to get while he was in Germany. Maybe he got his wires crossed, maybe Leica fouled up . . . either way he's seemingly at fault so far as the "usual supporters" are concerned for not having cheerfully handed over an extra 200 euros for the express service or/and not getting a signed and witnessed undertaking when he left the gear at Solms.

 

This premium for speedy turnaround seems to me to be utterly invidious. Prioritising repair work for those who pay extra must add to delays for everyone else (probably including warranty jobs), unless Leica Camera pays its service people 200 euros extra to work overtime on the paid-for priority tasks . . .

 

I'm not quite sure I agree with Roydonian that this means that "today’s Leica company has inherited the lackadaisical repair philosophy of the old Leitz company". If anything, this is even worse. I wonder what they'd do if the majority of repair-seeking customers cheerfully handed over the extra money? Make the other won't-pay-cheapskates wait until Kingdom Come? Or introduce a Super Fast-track Facility costing even more?

 

Still, what am I moaning about? They fixed my warranty job in less than three weeks (plus transit time) even when I told them it wasn't urgent.

[pico]

My experience with Leica, New Jersey was amazingly good, fast, competent, above and beyond my expectations, however it was perfectly coordinated with them. Sometimes things just go so very well.

[jaques]

My only experience to date cost me dearly ($$) and was a total mess... I am about to use them again and I remain hopeful my first experience was an isolated 'freak' event.

 

As for the old days- my local camera technician told me a story of visiting the Leitz factory with his father back in the 1950's. They dropped in just for a look- but the Leica people insisted that his father hand over his M3 for a quick service (gratis of course) whilst father and son were treated to an impromptu tour of the factory.

 

20 years later he was a trained technician working in their microscope department....

[ayewing]

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It can be done. In the days when the UK’s Acoustical manufacturing Company and its Quad hif-fi equipment occupied the sort of market niche that Leica currently enjoys, the company’s owner boasted that defective equipment arriving by posted would be repaired and posted back by the close of the following working day. An owner who turned up at the factory at 9am with a faulty item would receive it back by 5pm that day.

 

There was a down side to this, of course. One of the factors that drove up the cost of Quad products was the need to finance the sort of well-staffed and well-equipped repair department required to produce this level of service. But customers were prepared to pay this price.

 

 

Happy days. I live quite near Huntingdon and always used to take my Quad stuff in person to their big factory. In the service department you would be greeted by a chap in a white overall with his pockets overflowing with voltmeters and technical stuff. Simple repairs would be done while I went off for a coffee.

 

Alas the Quad factory is no more as they manufacture in China now. To be fair the repair shop in a small industrial unit in Huntingdon is still very efficient but you are usually greeted by a pleasant attractive young lady and you do not often get a chance to speak to the technician. It is reassuring that they still service my increasingly antique hi fi gear.

[IkarusJohn]

My Roksan CD transport gave up the ghost after 20 years of faithful service. On the off chance, I search the web and found Roksan was still in business so emailed them; they said the transport was worth fixing, and they had an upgrade available. Somewhat doubtfully, I packaged the thing up and sent it to London. It came back 3 weeks or so later working perfectly.

 

What I like about Leica is that they fix their products no matter how old, and they take care. So far, I haven't had a warranty gripe - they just get on with it.

 

I don't need things done urgently, so if someone who makes a living out of their camera or who has an urgent deadline needs to go first, I don't mind. Similarly, I expect that Leica, having people using their equipment all over the World, is under pressure at times from many different countries. So, they manage a wide range of needs and expectations.

 

I wouldn't pitch up to their global headquarters and expect them to drop everything to deal with my little problems. A telephone call, or an email, would have sorted that reasonably easily. I imagine if you are expected, you will get a warm welcome. In my practice, I must admit that I'm the same. If a client just arrives, I might have to say - look, bad timing, I'm in the middle of something, come back another time with an appointment.

 

What I do expect is to be treated well, and for my equipment to be properly serviced/fixed/repaired/upgraded, and so far the service has been exemplary. My brief interaction with the local importer has also been very good.

 

Sounds like the Australians are not so lucky. In their shoes, I would deal directly with Solms.

 

Cheers

John

[SteveYork]

Even mechanical cameras break, and this is why you always have something else. Recently I even had two Leicaflex SL go SNAFU within a week of each other, and even the Leica fan boys will agree that they are a lot more sturdy then any digital M. Call me cynical, but you can't put trust in other people, even it's only to get a camera repaired within a certain time. Have a back up, and a contingency to the back up and an alternative to the contingency. The point being it is totally within you control to never be without a camera.

[M. Valdemar]

When I was a teenager, oh, in 1968 or 1969 or so, I remember there was a huge Nikon Center in Rockefeller Center in New York City, where you could see and try all the latest Nikon equipment.

 

In the middle of the the place was sort of an enclosed glass booth with a window where a Japanese man sat, surrounded by tools and equipment. He also had a little collection of super rare lenses and bodies behind the glass.

 

You could give him your camera or lens and he would check it, collimate your lens or clean out the dust, as a free service.

 

I remember one day I took my newly aquired used Nikon FTN to him to look at. The meter in the camera was dead, I got the camera for a cheap price.

 

I didn't expect him to fix it, but he looked at it, took out his tiny screwdrivers, and at what seemed like the speed of lightning, took the prism apart into hundreds of pieces, fixed it, put it back to together, then did the same to the body and shutter.

 

Total time, about 15 minutes. Perfectly repaired, no charge.

 

I was thrilled.

 

Now the whole thing seems like a dream. Nikon House is no longer in Rockefeller Center, the Japanese repairman lives only in my memory, and nobody will fix your Nikon for free.

 

But that episode made me a die-hard Nikon fan for life.

[stuny]

MV -

 

Ehrenreich (perhaps misspelled), the importer, was nearby, so it makes sense they would have a facility like that. Cool story.

[gyoung]

My experience with Nikon UK was always good when we had about 30 various bodies and 50+ lenses for student use, whereas my own experience with leica in UK has mostly been less satisfying, although limited.

 

Gerry