Hong Kong Leica Distributor Schmidt Marketing Underwhelming Customer Experience

[wattsy]

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I feel certain that if someone walked into Leica Mayfair or Leica LA the response would have been most different.

 

I don't know about the LA shop but Mayfair won't do RF calibration in-house. They will (very politely) insist that the camera goes back to Solms for a 2-4 week sojourn.

[M. Valdemar]

Which "Schmidt" are you dealing with?

 

I have it on good authority that Leica employs two identical twins.

 

"Hans" Schmidt is a kind, good natured twin, who loves to repair cameras promptly and often ships not one, but TWO free books with each job.

 

"Heinz" Schmidt is the grotesque, evil twin. He will arbitrarily damage and attempt to ruin your camera, he will ship it to the wrong address just for a joke, and he will never give you a book.

 

Which "Schmidt" will you encounter? Who knows, indeed.

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[k-hawinkler]

For sure it ain't Eric!

[Guest jvansmit]

i've promised myself never to go anywhere near Schmidt or their HK Leica boutiques ever again....every single experience has been distinctly unpleasant. Particularly galling were their attempts to charge me a handling fee for warranty repairs. They even refused a warranty repair on my M9 claiming that a very small dent on the top-plate invalidated the warranty even though the issue was firmware related. Fortunately Solms were more obliging.

 

In my experience, the best Leica experience in HK is via 9 days in TST.

[rich_]

So very sorry for the belated reply. I don't seem to be alerted when i receive responses, so it was just a casual google and i found this old thread!

 

Please do let me know if you need any more information about my experiences. I have since sold that camera, but now own a M240.

 

I will be trying Schmidt out again, unless there is still a friendly technical in HK who could help me. My 20 Year old Summilux Asph 35mm has a bit of lens wobble and the aperture is a bit silky-loose!>

 

I'd like to get it examined but I'm not willing to wait 6 months...

 

Hmm..

 

Hope all is well folks,

Rich

[Richardgb]

Maybe I've been lucky, but on the occasions when I've dealt with Schmidt HK (2 warranty repairs / replacement and 1 straightforward repair) over the last 3 years, I've never had a problem.

 

Ditto Schmidt Beijing (again, warranty repair), although I believe their facilities are more limited than HK.

 

All the above with currently (at the time) produced items; I have no experience with older equipment.

 

Have I been unlucky with the number of warranty repairs? That, to me, is a much more worrying issue.

[rramesh]

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I am surprised that with the potentially huge market in Greater China, Leica doesn't have a direct office.

[rich_]

Hi gents,

 

Back again as my M240 is back focusing on my lenses- so thought i'd give Schmidt another go. To follow up on my previous years efforts- they didn't charge me in the end, so that was good!

 

I'll see what happens this time round, I'm wary of leaving my camera there so may try the 0845 method described above!

 

Merry Christmas/Holidays everyone.

Rich

[Guest jvansmit]

I'm not sure if this is good news or not....sometimes the devil you know is better than the one you don't:

 

http://leicarumors.com/2017/03/12/leica-canceled-schmidt-marketing-after-60-years.aspx/