so i got my M... (about leica store)

[dchalfon]

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so i finally got my leica m today.

 

i've been with leica for around 6 years now. i've had the M8, which i sold to fund the m, i still have my m6 and my trusty 28/35/50/90 combination of lenses.

 

over the years i've never purchased a single item from a leica store. for some reason all things i got came from independent stores like red dot cameras, richard caplan and r.g. lewis in london or the guys from camera west in walnut creek and b&h in ny.

 

but for the m i've went to the leica store mayfair in london, basically because they could arrange a camera for me in the time i needed (i don't live in london so i had only one day to grab it while on a business trip).

 

although they were wonderful during my email and payment arrangements, i must say it was the most horrible in store experience.

 

they acted simply as they were not caring for a guy spending 5000 pounds on a camera. they were more worried to handle customers with fancy and expensive jewelry buying their pana/leica compacts only to show off a red logo.

 

really, if this is the kind of attention a leica store gives to their customers i am afraid about the future of the brand.

their essence is photography and not luxury.

ok, they have the right to try to position themselves as luxury, but you have to keep with your roots and DNA, and honestly this is not what i saw today.

 

obviously i will keep with the brand, but from now on i will never put my feet on a leica store again.

[Dannybuoy]

I've had mixed experience with that store. Mostly positive. I've been a couple of times in the last few years. The shop assistants have been really helpful and very keen to let me try out the M and try a few lenses on my M9 a at the time. I get the feeling that if there had been other better dressed, wealthier looking people in there at the same time impossibly would have just been left to window shop. The biggest issue I had was when my M9 was missing frames quite regularly so I was shown up to a workshop on the other side of the road. A guy who served me was a little on the patronising side and as I couldn't show the fault he was actually quite rude and I felt a little bit as though I was making it up. I left quite unhappy. Apart from that my experience has been good. An off day in the store maybe.

[algrove]

so i finally got my leica m today.

 

i've been with leica for around 6 years now. i've had the M8, which i sold to fund the m, i still have my m6 and my trusty 28/35/50/90 combination of lenses.

 

over the years i've never purchased a single item from a leica store. for some reason all things i got came from independent stores like red dot cameras, richard caplan and r.g. lewis in london or the guys from camera west in walnut creek and b&h in ny.

 

but for the m i've went to the leica store mayfair in london, basically because they could arrange a camera for me in the time i needed (i don't live in london so i had only one day to grab it while on a business trip).

 

although they were wonderful during my email and payment arrangements, i must say it was the most horrible in store experience.

 

they acted simply as they were not caring for a guy spending 5000 pounds on a camera. they were more worried to handle customers with fancy and expensive jewelry buying their pana/leica compacts only to show off a red logo.

 

really, if this is the kind of attention a leica store gives to their customers i am afraid about the future of the brand.

their essence is photography and not luxury.

ok, they have the right to try to position themselves as luxury, but you have to keep with your roots and DNA, and honestly this is not what i saw today.

 

obviously i will keep with the brand, but from now on i will never put my feet on a leica store again.

 

Sorry for what you experienced. If you ever get to the US in Miami store is very attentive. Also if you get to Washington DC that store is also very good and attentive too.

[traphagen]

Sorry to hear about your experience.

 

I've always had excellent experiences in the New York, Washington, DC and Miami stores. I generally don't always walk in particularly well-dressed. They are always very welcoming and attentive.

[South Bird]

I've gotten great service at Leicastore LA. First time on wait list and purchase of M over the phone. Went out of their way on my special delivery requests. Then I walked in after helping move furniture all days in shorts and a t shirt I got great service again. I had to wait for the guy to free up but again on wait lost for grip and again delivered per instructions. At least in LA you can't really tell degree of affluence by appearance and some of the concerns expressed here could be from pressure of busy day as opposed to actual slight.

[Dikaiosune01]

It feels and sounds like the same experience in Hong Kong; at all four locations across one city. This is especially when the store is busy with even one customer. The two to three sales reps will be around the one customer who is fondling an X-2; while the M system user is ignored. That being said I have received mixed levels of compentent service. I frequented leica stores every couple of weeks to check on thestatus of my order. If there were any customers, they wouldn't give me the time of day. If there were no customers, they would tell me how many cameras have come in so far; strap lug problems, etc etc. It was really hard to guess whether I was going to get good service that day or not.

 

Others on this forum have reported to borrowing the Leica's store's charger when their charger blew up.

 

In the Leica Store sales rep defense though, The M user is a very old, reliable client base. That client base isn't going anywhere. We didn't leave leica when the auto focus system was invented. We aren't liekly to leave the M system because of a bad day. The ones that Leica really needs to market and convenience is the D-Lux and X2 crowd. So it is somewhat understandable (even though distasteful) thay they would give those customers preference.

 

Still I also understand your need to get some things off your chest.

[stevelap]

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I'm sorry you had a bad experience there, although personally I've not had a problem with them.

 

On the bright side, perhaps the Leica Mayfair centre will be a little less busy with casual visitors now that their new Burlington Arcade store has opened.

[Paul J]

I have to agree I have only very good things to say about my experiences with both the Leica Store and the Leica Cafe/Service area across the road. I've always found friendly, helpful and enthusiastic staff but can appreciate it only takes one bad experience to change all that.

[dkCambridgeshire]

so i finally got my leica m today.

 

i've been with leica for around 6 years now. i've had the M8, which i sold to fund the m, i still have my m6 and my trusty 28/35/50/90 combination of lenses.

 

over the years i've never purchased a single item from a leica store. for some reason all things i got came from independent stores like red dot cameras, richard caplan and r.g. lewis in london or the guys from camera west in walnut creek and b&h in ny.

 

but for the m i've went to the leica store mayfair in london, basically because they could arrange a camera for me in the time i needed (i don't live in london so i had only one day to grab it while on a business trip).

 

although they were wonderful during my email and payment arrangements, i must say it was the most horrible in store experience.

 

they acted simply as they were not caring for a guy spending 5000 pounds on a camera. they were more worried to handle customers with fancy and expensive jewelry buying their pana/leica compacts only to show off a red logo.

 

really, if this is the kind of attention a leica store gives to their customers i am afraid about the future of the brand.

their essence is photography and not luxury.

ok, they have the right to try to position themselves as luxury, but you have to keep with your roots and DNA, and honestly this is not what i saw today.

 

obviously i will keep with the brand, but from now on i will never put my feet on a leica store again.

 

You sound a little upset - but what exactly did you expect? Preferential treatment because you were allegedly spending more than other 'less important' customers ? Were the other customers already in front of you? Did you really expect preferential treatment because you were not buying a compact camera? Maybe the staff were very busy and could not attend to you immediately? And you seem to have a very stereotyped and poor opinion of the bejewelled lesser mortals all allegedly buying red dotted status symbols just to to show off ...

 

Were ALL the customers as you describe?

 

And now you are worrying about the brand's future and stamping your feet and threatening never to set foot in a Leica Store again ... just because you were not given the red carpet treatment.

 

Maybe you protest too much

 

dunk

[Angora]

In the Leica Store sales rep defense though, The M user is a very old, reliable client base. That client base isn't going anywhere. We didn't leave leica when the auto focus system was invented. We aren't liekly to leave the M system because of a bad day. The ones that Leica really needs to market and convenience is the D-Lux and X2 crowd. So it is somewhat understandable (even though distasteful) thay they would give those customers preference.

 

Understandable, yes... marketing wise. But morally speaking, this is certainly not how they should treat those who basically allowed them to survive by buying all these M.

Not biting the hand that fed you, etc.

[250swb]

 

they acted simply as they were not caring for a guy spending 5000 pounds on a camera. they were more worried to handle customers with fancy and expensive jewelry buying their pana/leica compacts only to show off a red logo.

 

really, if this is the kind of attention a leica store gives to their customers i am afraid about the future of the brand.

their essence is photography and not luxury.

ok, they have the right to try to position themselves as luxury, but you have to keep with your roots and DNA, and honestly this is not what i saw today.

.

 

I'm sorry you weren't given the treatment you expected, but you haven't said what you did expect?

 

I agree that staff should be courteous and helpful but it seems the 'sales' effort was done, you'd already bought the camera and were just picking it up. At this point a lot of photographers would just want to grab it and head home to unwrap it and get the battery charged. There is for instance little point in opening it up to just to look at it in a shop full of people, then pack it all away again. What would you have liked them to talk about, f/stops, the weather, or maybe just a 'hope you enjoy it Sir'?

 

Personally I love my local Leica dealer, they know I know what I want and don't try to sell me anything, and I think it's the case with a lot of their long time customers. They can have a joke, they can talk about cameras, but they aren't condescending and they don't fawn, which suits me perfectly because spending all that money I don't want to be held up another minute with further sales patter.

 

Steve

[dkCambridgeshire]

 

... The ones that Leica really needs to market and convenience is the D-Lux and X2 crowd. So it is somewhat understandable (even though distasteful) thay they would give those customers preference.

 

Still I also understand your need to get some things off your chest.

 

Another elitist comment !! There is nothing 'distasteful' in serving customers buying compact Leica cameras ... and those buyers are NOT the 'CROWD' !! Do you really expect Leica stores to discriminate against Leica compact camera users when an M user / customer walks into the store?

 

I detect some very noticeable and unhealthy snobbishness in this thread.

 

I attended a Leica user's function at Leica Mayfair recently where the staff went to great lengths to accommodate all the 40 guests - both before and after the proceedings commenced. We chatted all things "Leica" with the sales staff in the cafe afterwards ... including Leica compact, rangefinder, S2 and S1 and binoculars. All the Mayfair staff including MD David Bell were most helpful. They treated us all with respect - regardless of which Leica or Pana-Leica cameras we were using or enquiring about. And I have witnessed Leica Mayfair's non-discrimination at Birdfair 2013 where the technicians even repaired a Canon lens on the spot and free of charge!

 

And BTW ... Leica invented autofocus !! They had R series AF prototypes long before other manufacturers.

 

dunk

[dkCambridgeshire]

Understandable, yes... marketing wise. But morally speaking, this is certainly not how they should treat those who basically allowed them to survive by buying all these M.

Not biting the hand that fed you, etc.

 

So ... an M user walks into a Leica Store with a big badge on his lapel or hat stating "I LOVE MY LEICA M " ... there is already a Leica compact customer being served/attended to ...

 

The sales assistant on seeing the "I LOVE MY LEICA M" badge immediately stops serving his Leica compact camera customer ... and tells him/her to wait while he serves the M user ... :eek:

 

I don't think so somehow ...

 

dunk

[Angora]

So ... an M user walks into a Leica Store with a big badge on his lapel or hat stating "I LOVE MY LEICA M " ... there is already a Leica compact customer being served/attended to ...

 

The sales assistant on seeing the "I LOVE MY LEICA M" badge immediately stops serving his Leica compact camera customer ... and tells him/her to wait while he serves the M user ... :eek:

 

You have a pretty vivid imagination.

[dkCambridgeshire]

There are Leica M users with this type of 'attitude' ... who think that because they own an M, it is a passport to privilege and imaging success. I meet many of them and remember their typical comments ... e.g. " ... that's not a PROPER Leica!!" ... but many of them do not know how to take a proper photograph. They deceive themselves.

 

dunk

[George Furst]

I live in South Korea and have been at the flagship leica store in Seoul many times. The store is Bondo Camera in ChumErRo, the camera center of Seoul. I have never had an experience as was described at the Leica Store in London. They have always been very attentive and answered all my questions as though they really cared about what I was desiring to see. This is suprising especially as English is not their first language but a foreign language. This is one reason that I have purchased Leica products from them and not from other shops in the area.

 

Another thing they do is consign your lens that you wish to sell and have an excellent repair service too. They also have an area for you to rest or share your camera with other like minded people. I have attended this shop for over seven years and watched other foreigners arrive and be treated very well so it is not just that they know me, they treat all very well. If in Korea visit their shop, Bondo Camera, and enjoy a really fine shop. They also have a gallary on the second floor and a great shop on the third floor too. You could spend the whole day there just brousing.

 

PS: Then also have a shop in KangNom bart of Seoul at the Hyundai Store. Just ask and one in the area it is very famous and they will guide you to this new store with wonderful staff to help you.

[bill_murray]

I found the Leica store Mayfair staff helpful and enthusiastic, and was also shown

across the road to the workshop for a coffee whilst my monochrom selector lever was reattached...I felt very well attended to.

[sc_rufctr]

?...

 

And BTW ... Leica invented autofocus !! They had R series AF prototypes long before other manufacturers.

 

dunk

 

Thanks Dunk. Do you have any links with more info?

 

Apologies to all for the off topic post.

[Angora]

Thanks Dunk. Do you have any links with more info?

 

Apologies to all for the off topic post.

 

Correfot

 

Leitz Correfot

 

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[Herr Barnack]

 

...although they were wonderful during my email and payment arrangements, i must say it was the most horrible in store experience.

 

they acted simply as they were not caring for a guy spending 5000 pounds on a camera. they were more worried to handle customers with fancy and expensive jewelry buying their pana/leica compacts only to show off a red logo...

 

For a purchase of $8000+ USD, you would think that the sales staff could muster at least a marginal amount of professional service and consideration for the purchaser. Apparently not, though.

 

What a sad commentary on this Leica shop...