Leica Service- Far from Europe and the USA...

[hoppyman]

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Jacques you are clearly still "so F!$@Q%^$^*^& angry!" You're annoyed about responses including mine here but then you've made some remarks I think are impolite or unfair to us. I recall that we've differed here before so maybe that is part of it. I don't know what the issue is with your camera of course.The first thing I said in my post is that my M and a lens are also in Germany (I broke them) and I am frustrated waiting (on the servicing times) too.

 

I can provide responses on a couple of your remarks. Nothing on any opinions or anecdotal. You probably have enough steam coming out of your ears already:D

I contacted Leica Australia and was told I have to take the camera to my dealer- who forward it to Camera Clinic in Sydney- who then have to test the camera before sending it to Germany.

Camera Clinic are in Melbourne, not Sydney. But everywhere is far from everywhere here as we know. Whatever their protocols, any M (typ 240) from here does have to go to Germany currently. They are not authorised by Germany to work on them. They do check and assess what needs to be done here first and that can take 2 weeks. Mine did.

I logged into the Leica owners area- and noticed that all the contact details listed for the camera warranty are wrong and out of date- listing Adeal as the repairer and my Australian contact for Leica support. There is no sign of any tracking information - or any way to know what is happening with my gear once it is in Germany. I emailed Leica a week ago and so far only got an automated response.

The Leica Camera AG website shows the correct information. Maybe it took a few weeks to be updated?

<http://en.leica-camera.com/service/service_and_repair/worldwide_network/au/photography/index.html>

 

You can get tracking information on your Leica while it is in Germany. You need the Leica repair order number (Leica's, not CC's) or the individual item serial number may work.

<http://en.leica-camera.com/service/service_and_repair/repair_tracking/>

 

I emailed a customer care representative in Germany on mine last week and I got an automated response overnight that the representative would be back in the office on December 2. He did then email me personally and I got a further expansion and follow up from customer care in Australia too. I guess they pass on any direct contacts to the locals here too.

certainly The Tyranny of Distance ensures those further from the source of repair fair worse than those closer... but I think it is a worse situation than just that. Last time I sent a camera for repair the Australian agent effectively doubled Leica's charge for their 'handling fee' and we are told by Leica we must send the camera to the local Rep- not to Leica direct- for this 'service' we pay double and add 4 weeks onto the repair time- at least. In Europe folks drop in on Solms- or a Leica store- in the US they have New Jersey, etc...In SE Asia they have Schmidt- read around see how many happy speedy repair stories about Leica service through Schmidt you find.

 

I don't know the origin of that, Customer Service told us at the forum meeting a couple of years ago that you can deal directly with Germany if you choose. In that case you would be responsible for the freight and insurance one way and have to deal with the Customs side yourself. Sending warranty work via your dealer means at least you should be paying nothing and all is done for you. Yep, it's likely that the dealer and Camera Clinic will add to the turnaround time and for non-warranty work likely charge some handling fees.

I guess you are talking about Schmidt Marketing Asia? Distribution of stock for Australia does come through Singapore as far as I know but they have nothing to do with servicing or warranty for Australian customers that I am aware of.

Not only that: I attached my new/old Biotar 85mm 1.4 lens and turned on LV. The camera said: "No Lens Attached". I turned it off and on- and then it LV worked. I turned on focus peaking and tried to focus: No Peaking! Is this normal? Does peaking only work with M lenses??

Peaking function is menu selectable and dependant on settings. It is not a full time function. It is not lens dependant. In my experience but it works better for some subjects / light/ situations than others. You have to learn more new functions/operations with LV operation particularly.

Perhaps you are trying to help me here Hoppy... but you have managed to patronise me instead- whether you intended to or no. I am sorry but I have to respond thusly:

I can guarantee you 100% that this is not a matter of me accidentally turning the power dial all the way from S mode- over to timer mode- and then accidentally returning it to the correct position before I have time to look down at it. And this is not a thing that disappears for months- did you even read the thread?

I did not suggest that. You are exaggerating. What I did wonder was if it was possible for the issue to happen if the selector was slightly out of its detent. If the detent wasn't positive enough for example and/or if you are putting some pressure on it in handling sometimes.

Just my guessing on possibilities. That is only my suggestion as part of good fault-finding practice, since this was intermittent, you and I both said that we aren't aware of any other reports of a problem like this and the technicians said they couldn't duplicate the fault.

I spent 20 years in (avionics and weapons) technical maintenance and management of that. No-one ever believes they made a mistake (including me).

 

My mistake on mis-reading one remark you made about 'months' though, sorry. You were talking about not trusting the camera now even if a fault did not appear for months.You told us you saw this fault immediately but were (initially I guess) unsure if it was a user error. Then you sent the camera back after 20 days.

[pop]

Peaking function is menu selectable and dependant on settings. It is not a full time function. It is not lens dependent….

 

Peaking and - indeed - LV will be disabled if the camera cannot detect any lens at all. This will be the case when the sensors fail to read the 6 bit code of the lens in some particular ways. When this happens, the camera displays a message to the effect that there is no lens attached.

 

Some LTM-to-M adapters are plagued by this problem. Uncoded lenses may be detected by the cameras some of the time and sometimes not if there are some screws or other features in the area where the camera expects the coding dots.

[MarkP]

Peaking and - indeed - LV will be disabled if the camera cannot detect any lens at all. This will be the case when the sensors fail to read the 6 bit code of the lens in some particular ways. When this happens, the camera displays a message to the effect that there is no lens attached.

 

Some LTM-to-M adapters are plagued by this problem. Uncoded lenses may be detected by the cameras some of the time and sometimes not if there are some screws or other features in the area where the camera expects the coding dots.

 

Yes, this is very frustrating. The camera treats as idiots. Surely we should be able to override this.

[jaques]

I am sorry- I was rude- in a bad mood- accept the apologies and let me try explain what irritates me about your approach: You go ahead and make (soemtimes incorrect) assumptions- that hint at user error- and lightly suggest that complaints may not be legitimate- but often it is clear you have not closely read what has been written before passing comment. I know you are probably trying to help- but I believe you have an underlying bias- to defend Leica's honour first and ask questions later- just now you have made a few assumptions that perhaps demonstrate my point:

 

Peaking function is menu selectable and dependant on settings. It is not a full time function. It is not lens dependant. In my experience but it works better for some subjects / light/ situations than others. You have to learn more new functions/operations with LV operation particularly.

if you read what I wrote (before you quoted it) you might have noticed I said: "I turned on focus peaking and tried to focus", indicating that I am fully aware that peaking is not a default function, and that it is 'menu selectable'.

 

I guess you are talking about Schmidt Marketing Asia? Distribution of stock for Australia does come through Singapore as far as I know but they have nothing to do with servicing or warranty for Australian customers that I am aware of.

Again if you had closely read the quote you are referring to here you may have noted I wrote " In Europe folks drop in on Solms- or a Leica store- in the US they have New Jersey, etc...In SE Asia they have Schmidt" and would have realised I wasn't referring to service in Australia.

 

as for:

I did not suggest that. You are exaggerating. What I did wonder was if it was possible for the issue to happen if the selector was slightly out of its detent.

actually you strongly suggested something different:

 

Are you certain that inadvertent movement of the release mode selector hasn't happened? I don't follow why it would happen and then not reappear for months. I can comment from my own experience that the more important the subject the more likely I am to bump a setting dial to a wrong setting in handling where it should be un-bumpable and lose frames

In any case I just looked at the M- and it is impossible to move the dial on mine and leave it slightly out of its detent- it jumps back and locks in- and even if it could: why should that set of the timer mode?

 

Finally to address the broader issue of the quality of service: I have experience with supply chains like these- the fact is no one takes the blame for what ends up being a terribly inefficient slow system. Leica would do better to have a courier pick the camera up direct from wherever the buyer stipulates (within standard courier accessible areas of course). This would probably end up being the cheapest option for Leica - and certainly the happiest and fastest for the customer.

 

Paying well over $160AUD to post with insurance and send to Solms myself is unacceptable. But having it take 30 days or more from dealer to Solms and another 30 back- is also unacceptable if you ask me.

 

I routinely post cameras all over the world in 3 to 6 working days- including clearing customs to most countries. It is no big deal these days- plenty of options.

 

any how- I have had very different experiences to you it seems in these matters.