Request for comment from Leica re M(240) delivery (or lack thereof)

[MarkP]

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Would it be too much to expect a comment to the Forum from Leica AG explaining the delay in delivery of the M(240)?

 

Would the Forum administrator pass this request on the Leica management?

[AlanJW]

It has literally been months since the last deliveries. The silence from Leica is both deafening and worrisome.

 

Come on Leica, tell us when to expect more deliveries so we can deal with it rather than speculate and wring hands.

[Guest tanks]

Here is what someone posted on Facebook M240 Group, it sums up to "you will get it when you get it":

 

Dear Mr. Tokar,

 

Your inquiry was redirected by the Leica headquarters in Germany to my Technical Support inbox at this U.S. location for Leica importing and distribution.

According to the sales division the quantities that we receive from the factory will likely continue to be outnumbered by the strong demand for some time. Unfortunately both the dealers and our sales people are not able to predict with any certainty when a customer will be able to take delivery on the new M model. As they come in these cameras are distributed to authorized Leica retailers throughout the country that already have pending orders with our sales department. These dealers obviously hand them over to customers on their own list that have waited the longest. Customers started first placing orders with their dealers last September and I think those first orders have been filled. Depending on when you placed your order and the size of the customer waiting list your particular dealer has, I would anticipate that delivery of your camera might be anywhere from a few weeks to a few months. I wish I could provide some better clarification for you.

We do regret any disappointment and frustration this situation may cause and remain eager to receive many more cameras into the country in order to accomodate all waiting customers in a timely manner.

Please let me know if you have any questions about the functionality of the new M camera and I will help you as much as I can.

 

Sincerely,

Mark Brady

 

Leica Camera Inc. / Technical Advisor

[digitalfx]

Here is what someone posted on Facebook M240 Group, it sums up to "you will get it when you get it":

 

Dear Mr. Tokar,

 

Customers started first placing orders with their dealers last September and I think those first orders have been filled.

 

This is the part I don't understand. According to this, Leica "thinks" it has filled all the customers pre-orders placed last September. Why wouldnt they know this is not the case? I placed a pre-order the day before the announcement and I havent heard a peep.

[Guest tanks]

This is the part I don't understand. According to this, Leica "thinks" it has filled all the customers pre-orders placed last September. Why wouldnt they know this is not the case? I placed a pre-order the day before the announcement and I havent heard a peep.

 

Leica has no idea how many orders a particular dealer has. There are people (like myself) that have made the "mistake" of ordering from a large dealer with a huge list, and there have been cases of people walking in and walking out with an M from a small dealer.

 

It seems orders are not sent to dealers from the distributors proportional to the outstanding back orders. So, if each dealer gets two cameras, the dealer with 150 people on the waiting list will have 148 people still waiting whereas the dealer with zero people on the waiting list will have two available for walk-ins.

 

I think a forum member here walked into a shop in Orlando and walked out with an M after getting the heads up from another member.

[AlanJW]

This is the part I don't understand. According to this, Leica "thinks" it has filled all the customers pre-orders placed last September. Why wouldnt they know this is not the case? I placed a pre-order the day before the announcement and I havent heard a peep.

 

 

Frankly, this is baloney from Leica. Either they know about preorders or they don't. Whether or not, if they have been paying any attention at all to ther marketplace they would know that not all preorders have been filled. Even if they were, what explains a two month hiatus in deliveries?

[StephenPatterson]

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This is the part I don't understand. According to this, Leica "thinks" it has filled all the customers pre-orders placed last September. Why wouldnt they know this is not the case? I placed a pre-order the day before the announcement and I havent heard a peep.

 

First of the first, meaning that Leica only thinks that the first name on each dealer's list has received a camera (Not bad, huh?). At this rate the backlog should be cleared sometime before the next ice age...

[Ecar]

Even if they were, what explains a two month hiatus in deliveries?

Disassembling and fixing strap lugs on those cameras that were already delivered, perhaps?

[jaapv]

Nope - different department - different building even.

[jaapv]

First of the first, meaning that Leica only thinks that the first name on each dealer's list has received a camera (Not bad, huh?). At this rate the backlog should be cleared sometime before the next ice age...

You shouldn't complain - you sold your early delivered camera voluntarily...

[StephenPatterson]

You shouldn't complain - you sold your early delivered camera voluntarily...

 

To a very nice man who didn't mind sending the camera back to the fatherland. The problem with the M240 is it's like peanuts...once you start using one it's hard to stop.

[Ecar]

Nope - different department - different building even.

 

Maybe. But the resources to deal with the lug business must come from somewhere. How about a temporary assignment to another building?

[jaapv]

Not really as i see it - these are maintenance technicians, not production ones and even the impact on Customer Service appears to be small.

[Ecar]

Not really as i see it - these are maintenance technicians, not production ones and even the impact on Customer Service appears to be small.

Fair enough, but if you had a large batch of cameras coming in (all at the same time, with customers eagerly waiting for them to be returned asap) and these required a fairly extensive disassembly and reassembly (as seems to be the case), wouldn't you resort to production technicians who could do this with their eyes closed (also taking into account the fact that maintenance people do not have much experience with this particular camera yet)? Unless, of course, your maintenance dep.t has a lot of idle capacity.

But despite my familiarity with the organization of industrial production processes, perhaps there's something I'm missing in the German way of doing things...

[Guest tanks]

Not really as i see it - these are maintenance technicians, not production ones and even the impact on Customer Service appears to be small.

 

How do you explain the "halt" in deliveries then?

[cirke]

Here is what someone posted on Facebook M240 Group, it sums up to "you will get it when you get it":

 

Dear Mr. Tokar,

 

Your inquiry was redirected by the Leica headquarters in Germany to my Technical Support inbox at this U.S. location for Leica importing and distribution.

According to the sales division the quantities that we receive from the factory will likely continue to be outnumbered by the strong demand for some time. Unfortunately both the dealers and our sales people are not able to predict with any certainty when a customer will be able to take delivery on the new M model. As they come in these cameras are distributed to authorized Leica retailers throughout the country that already have pending orders with our sales department. These dealers obviously hand them over to customers on their own list that have waited the longest. Customers started first placing orders with their dealers last September and I think those first orders have been filled. Depending on when you placed your order and the size of the customer waiting list your particular dealer has, I would anticipate that delivery of your camera might be anywhere from a few weeks to a few months. I wish I could provide some better clarification for you.

We do regret any disappointment and frustration this situation may cause and remain eager to receive many more cameras into the country in order to accomodate all waiting customers in a timely manner.

Please let me know if you have any questions about the functionality of the new M camera and I will help you as much as I can.

 

Sincerely,

Mark Brady

 

Leica Camera Inc. / Technical Advisor

 

But what they don't say here is that it depends also on the quantity that your vendor will receive, if it is a small dealer then ... happy new year 2014

[StephenPatterson]

How do you explain the "halt" in deliveries then?

 

I've heard from a few dealers who speculate that there must be some production problems ongoing with the M240. I think it is possible that during the internal audit into the lug problem that perhaps other nonconformance issues were uncovered, and are now being addressed. It could also be as simple as just a top down review of the entire supply chain - production process, with the goal to not have a repeat of this QA breakdown. Recalls are expensive.

[cirke]

and the grip only in July , I wonder why

[bill]

Is the sky falling again...?

 

Regards,

 

Bill

 

Sent from another Galaxy

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Hallo,

Look here: Leica M

[jaapv]

How do you explain the "halt" in deliveries then?

I don't. I have no specific insight in the deepest details of the production flow of the M, nor do I feel a need to "explain". Actually, I don't even know whether there is a halt at all.

I see strong similarities to the rollout of the M8 and M9. And S2 for that matter.

 

Leica's production is geared to a certain number of units which is conceived for normal demand. When they get faced by a pent-up tsunami, the deliveries appear to falter, as a manual production line has no overdrive.