Does Leica service match their great products

[bocaburger]

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I've been using Leicas since the early 1970s, have had pretty much every model at one time or another, including the digitals. Currently have 2 M's. So I'm obviously loyal to the brand. And my M8, M9 and so far M's have not needed any service. (Well, tbh my M9 needed a complete realignment of the rangefinder straight out of the box but I did it myself rather than send it in). I'm a little surprised to hear people extolling Leica-USA/NJ service over Leica Germany because in the past it was typically the reverse. It might just boil down to the people working there at the moment. Idk.

 

I am a hobbyist, and I carry a backup or two on vacation, and at home I have my Canon gear as well. So if I had to wait Leica's obnoxiously long turnaround times I wouldn't have a fit over it. What would surely piss me off is having to absorb the cost of shipping. I think Leica should send a call tag for it if the camera is under warranty. In the unlikely event the repair turns out to be non-warranty, they could just bill for the shipping.

[250swb]

I think Leica should send a call tag for it if the camera is under warranty. In the unlikely event the repair turns out to be non-warranty, they could just bill for the shipping.

 

It wouldn't be an unreasonable idea for faulty goods, but in any case I haven't paid any postage costs by taking/ sending the camera/ lens back to my local Leica dealer, which is the big advantage of buying and developing a relationship through an approved dealer.

 

Steve

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[bocaburger]

Unfortunately the nearest Leica dealer to me is an hour's drive. Not so much the cost of gas but my income stops when I leave my office and 2 hrs round trip amounts to quite a bit more lost revenue than shipping cost to NJ.

[Manoleica]

Pico-"OTOH, I carry the M9 on walks and recently I collided with a DSLR the size of an SUV with the structural integrity of an egg shell. I'm not upset at all. Call it a guilty pleasure that I walked away laughing"

Please do not laugh at others misfortunes.. We are extremely lucky to be able to afford our Leicas, others may not aspire or have funds to join the Leica Tribe..

We must respect everyone..

Edited March 23, 2015 by manoleica

[Herr Barnack]

Does Leica service match their great products?

Leica, NJ: In my experience, the answer is a resounding yes.

Leica Wetzlar: Apparently not.

 

It is ironic that Leica's home base comes up short on service, yet Leica NJ - an outstation on another continent - beats Wetzlar in that regard.

 

Perhaps the Poo-Bahs in Wetzlar should address that issue.

[F.Juul]

Leica, NJ: In my experience, the answer is a resounding yes.

Leica Wetzlar: Apparently not.

 

It is ironic that Leica's home base comes up short on service, yet Leica NJ - an outstation on another continent - beats Wetzlar in that regard.

 

Perhaps the Poo-Bahs in Wetzlar should address that issue.

 

I'm not sure if I know what a Poo-Bah is but one of the (naive) intentions with this thread was certainly to give Wetzlar feedback on their service performance, and constructive ideas for improvement of course. So I also hope they read and adress this.

[pedaes]

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Can I give you my factual possitive experince with Wetzlar service repair. I dropped my 90mm Summicron putting a small "flat" on the edge of the hood. However, when I next used the lens found infinity focus was way off at full aperture.

I downloded the Repair form from website, completed it electronically as requested and sent with lens to Customer Service.

The day after I had confirmation of delivery to CS from Carrier I received acknowledgement of arrival with a list of all incuded (lens and caps)from CS on 10th March. Estimate arrived on 18th March, and I completed confirmation same day and selected 5 working day repair option. Received "Order Release" confirmation by return with note that lens will ship on 25th (today). Today recieved Tracking advice from UPS advising delivery will be tomorrow. Simples.

I have not e-mailed or 'phoned anyone as no need. So for me,YES, the service does match the product, but like the product you have to pay and hope the cost will be forgotten but the quality remembered.

[steve70]

I have had both good and mediocre experiance with service, even thought it ended up OK in the end.

My last experiance happend on New Years eve when I wore a tux at a New year eve party and brought along my Monochrom. The buttons of my tux shirt scrattched the viewing screen! I usually carry my Monochrom on my shoulder, but not that night as I was planning on taking lots of pics, so I wore it on my neck and the viewing screen was hitting the buttons, still it should not have scratched! Fallowing morning I noticed the scratches, so the fallowing day, a work day, I shipped the body to Leica in the US along with a letter, shipped overnignt at considerable cost. I also fallowed up with an email.

No resonse to email for over a week! and no response to PH messages.

Finally I was able to get a hold of someone; they had been closed for the festivities and were now backed up. This was the 2nd week in January and they had still not logged my camera in!

Did end up purchasing a used (From them) sapphire back for 1/2 the price of a new one, but still the experiance was not good, did not have my Monochrom back for over 6 weeks!

A few years back I did purchase a new M9, had problems within a few days of purchase, (Stopped woking!) sent body back, and after a few conversations with the Leica USA president, they ended up sending me a new body.

My 2 cents worth.

[Leonil]

In my experience in Sydney Australia you can buy a Leica but Leica has no footprint except in Melbourne Australia.

 

So when I bought my M, It was through a regular camera store, and when I sent it in to be serviced, it was through a company called Camera Clinic who do great work but my gawd are they expensive (my Canon 24-70 2.8 needed a general service and they charged $1000 for things I didn't want fixed, so I got it back minus $60 for the delivery fee)

 

Do I call it Leica Service? No, I call it Australia charges too much for normally garbage results.

 

BUT when Fotoreisel almost walked off with my money (refused to refund me) when I kicked up a stink about their service when buying an M, the Australian CEO of Leica stepped in, guaranteed my place in line for a Leica, apologised and courtesy called me a few weeks later to check up on my purchase when I got the camera.

 

So that I call the "Leica Experience."

 

I just hope Leica takes a bit more charge in it's products here in Australia, as I am still scared about sending my M for a CLA because its not done through Leica (despite Camera Clinic having a "Leica Technician" which can mean almost anything) and also that it will cost something like $450 Australian which is about $350 USD, where I was told that a CLA shouldn't cost that much.

[serirama]

Dear all, I have sent my Leica to Service Centre in Singapore, only after 12 week, they only come with a quotation to clean the sensor for RM1900 which is US$430. I am a broken man after hearing this.

 

IS there anyone can provide me any email for managerial escalation?

 

Kind regards.

[wildlightphoto]

Update on the poor service for my 280/4 APO:  Tony Rose (popflash.com) was able to obtain a replacement 280/4 APO which externally shows little sign of use but upon delivery to Tony had internal haze which caused a significant loss of contrast with backlighting.  He sent it to Leica for service and after a couple of months it returned... with the same internal haze!

 

The lens was then sent to Don Goldberg (DAG) and in two weeks it returned without the haze and for substantially less cost than the Leica non-service.  I'll be sending my older lens (the one that Leica spent eight months not repairing) to DAG.

Edited April 12, 2017 by wildlightphoto

[Jeff S]

Update on the poor service for my 280/4 APO: Tony Rose (popflash.com) was able to obtain a replacement 280/4 APO which externally shows little sign of use but upon delivery to Tony had internal haze which caused a significant loss of contrast with backlighting. He sent it to Leica for service and after a couple of months it returned... with the same internal haze!

 

The lens was then sent to Don Goldberg (DAG) and in two weeks it returned without the haze and for substantially less cost than the Leica non-service. I'll be sending my older lens (the one that Leica spent eight months not repairing) to DAG.

.

 

Don fixed the sticky focus action on my 50 Summilux ASPH after Leica NJ tried and said they could not.... and it was back to me in 10 days for $90 total.

 

Jeff

[rjans]

I only used customer service in Germany three times. The first time in 2006, I wanted to buy a second hand D2 and had the serial number of the camera. I took a little time to get in but I asked and got a prompt reply that indeed the sensor had been replaced. The second time was in 2012. The sensor of my M8 needed a remapping. I choose a 5 day service and that went smooth. From the day they received the camera, after 5 days it was returned. In 2013 I got a mint second hand X Vario still with a valid license for Lightroom. But in meantime there was a never version of Lightroom. I contacted customer service by mail and one or two days later I got the download for the latest Lightroom. No questions how or where I bought the camera. I have no complaints about the service of Leica in Germany. It's complete according my expectations as a normal consumer using Leica equipment.

 

 

Best

Edited April 14, 2017 by rjans

[AndreaP75]

Glad to know that people is talking about it. I'm right now in a very difficult situation with CS in Germany.

Here is my ongoing story.

 

I've experienced a bayonet mount misalignment / lowering on my SL, possibly due to a compression that the camera may have received while stored in its bag with the SL 24-90 mounted on, which is the longest / heaviest lens I use. Since the camera has not been hit or fallen during use (still looking like new after almost 2 years), I only noticed this problem by chance, while changing lenses. The right side of the bayonet mount thickness was slightly lower than the left side.

 

Switching to Leica after 20 years of SLRs, I was shocked to see this problem to happen, especially on an advertised professional camera. At a closer inspection, I realized that the SL mount design is different from the majority of cameras. The mount is not solidal with the outer shell (think of all the SLRs), but it is installed directly "inside" the camera. So, movements of the mount, independently from the camera outer body, are actually possible by design.

 

However, and this the interesting part, I could not see any image quality issues, and the camera still performs like day one.

That brought me to believe that this compression has not happened at the mount alone, but the whole internal part has shifted all together, including the sensor, which has remained parallel to the mount. Otherwise, with the extemely low tolerances of digital sensors, I should have noticed blurry part of the image even by looking through the viewfinder.

 

I could have skipped sending the camera for a check, if I was only judging by the image quality. But you know, I was not comfortable with this visible pitting, showing the lens not perfectly parallel to the "focal plane".

 

So I set my "Pisa Tower" SL for a trip to Wetzlar, at the end of August.

 

Leica has responded with a Euro 3600+ repairing fee, stating sensor damage among other things. On the report it was at least written that the camera shows "minor signs of use". I was shocked and kindly refused the repairing fee. I didn't want to send the camera for repairing, I wanted it to be checked. I decided to live with that and use the camera as it is.

 

Then, I was informed over the phone (not stated in the written report) that the battery could not get out and they had to remove it manually with some tools. However, they were happy to offer me a new SL for the price of the repairing fee.

 

That was really too much, honestly. I don't know how the story will end up being. If this is not blackmailing, then tell me what it is.

[wildlightphoto]

Update on the poor service for my 280/4 APO:  Tony Rose (popflash.com) was able to obtain a replacement 280/4 APO which externally shows little sign of use but upon delivery to Tony had internal haze which caused a significant loss of contrast with backlighting.  He sent it to Leica for service and after a couple of months it returned... with the same internal haze!

 

The lens was then sent to Don Goldberg (DAG) and in two weeks it returned without the haze and for substantially less cost than the Leica non-service.  I'll be sending my older lens (the one that Leica spent eight months not repairing) to DAG.

 

 

Update on my older 280/4 APO, the one that spent eight months between Leica NJ and Leica Wetzlar with only the sketchiest of communication (when I could get any response at all) and eventually returned unrepaired with obvious signs of having been dropped on the rear lens cap.  Leica told me it could not be repaired due to a lack of parts.  I sent it to DAG and within a month it was back in excellent condition.  Parts required?  Three screws.  F*#k Leica's "service".

[jaapv]

Does Leica service match their brand and their great products? I invite you to an open discussion about this based on my own experience (a little long text maybe).

As many others, I contacted Leica due to some suspicious looking rows of dots on my pictures taken at low apertures. Leica Customer care looked at the samples I sent them and told me that I had to send my camera (M9P) to them to have it checked. Here is my first experience with Leica Customer Care described step wise. It is the service experience that I would like to discuss and not the specific technical problem:

 

> I spent 150 Euro on shipping and insurance to have the camera sent to Leica. I had to make them confirm that they had received the camera. They didn’t do that automatically.

 

> After a short while I got a message from Leica that the sensor was not defective but they would clean the sensor and adjust the rangefinder etc. I was happy with that, and said thank you.

 

> After some weeks of waiting I contacted Leica to hear when they would send the camera back to me. I was told by a technician that I hadn’t communicated with before that there was a lead time of an additional 2 ½ months to have the camera cleaned. At that time they had already had the camera for more than a month.

 

> I contacted Leica and told them to send the camera back to me un-cleaned since I had to use it for a field trip. I was the contacted by the first person that I had communicated with and he told me that they could have it cleaned and send back within a week. I was happy with that, and said thank you.

 

> I got my camera back within the week as promised. However, as I went to check it I was really disappointed. The sensor was very dirty and hair-like strands that were not there before showed very clearly on the pictures even at F4. In fact the sensor was much worse than before and the dots that were the reason for sending the camera to Leica were indeed still visible. Along with the camera Leica had sent a certificate stating that the sensor had been cleaned and the camera cap was “sealed off” with the orange sticker. I personally do not believe that the sensor had been cleaned.

 

> I contacted Leica again and told them in a friendly way that I did not see the problem solved. They returned to me and apologized and suggested that they had my camera back again. I told Leica that I was a bit reluctant to just send the camera back without knowing what would be done to it, and how long time it would take. They told me to send some DNGs that showed the problem, and they would find a swift solution – which I did.

 

> After a couple of days I got a mail by accident from Leica. It was internal communication between my contact and a technician. In the mail I was characterized as being very “unzufrieden” which I actually don’t think was quite right. I had only pointed out the problems as described in an objective way. Internal mails ending up at the customer should really not happen. This is a big mistake in my eyes.

 

> After some additional waiting time I contacted Leica to hear their conclusions, and after some more time I got the message that they needed to have the camera back to overhaul the sensor and evaluate if it needed to be changed. That was actually what they should have done when they got the camera in the first place, and they had already stated that the sensor was OK and cleaned anyway.

 

> I contacted Leica and told them that I could not send in the camera right now because I needed it for a field trip, so I would dry clean the sensor myself to remove the dust, and then send in the camera at a later stage for the other problems. I asked if they could provide me with a device and a method for blowing the dust off.

 

> After some more time I got a mail from a Danish agent that had not been in contact before. They told me that they heard I had problems with dust on the sensor and suggested that I contacted a certain Dealer in Denmark who they know is a Nikon/Canon expert??!

 

> I will now search this forum and find a method to dry clean my sensor myself, and subsequently decide further actions…I need to go shooting rather than writing.

 

I have 15 years of experience with technical service, and to me this is a very inconsistent performance by Leica – both in terms of communication and actions. So, my question: is there any learning for Leica here – and could we give them some constructive feedback and ideas for improvement? What is your experience?

I am completely puzzled by this.

Leica sends a shipping label to collect a camera and returns it free of charge, so there should be no shipping costs involved unless the customer insists on handling the shipping himself.

Secondly, dust on the sensor is not a reason to send a camera in. Either one does the cleaning oneself - which is preferable, as it is practical to spend the five minutes instead of wasting time and money to get somebody else to do so, or one avails oneself of the service of one of the many sensor cleaning businesses available.

 

BTW, the orange label displays a very clear statement about dust.

[pop]

I am completely puzzled by this.....

 

"This" has been posted 930 days ago.

[jaapv]

Yes, but reponses are still coming in...

[F.Juul]

Wow that is a while ago, but I feel a bit patronized so here's an answer:

If you read what I wrote you will see that the initial problem was not dust on the sensor. It was some strange looking dots which could not be cleaned off. The dust problem was not present before I got the camera back.

Furthermore, Leica did not offer free shipping when I sent the camera in - they did send it back for free though. The fact that the danish dealer who contacted me talked about dust on the sensor just showed that they didn't know what the real problem was.

 

I have later through a camera shop in Copenhagen had the camera fixed. They could not clean the sensor themselves, and could not find out what it was. So, they sent it to Leica who finally fixed it for free. And here I am a little puzzled - Why didn't they just do that the first time they had the camera?

Which leads to the point for starting this thread: To discuss inconsistency in the service that Leica provides, and if this matches an expensive product.

 

All the best

Flemming Juul

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[Jeff S]

Inconsistent is the operative word IMO... many great stories here regarding service, but many disappointing ones as well. And US service not always on par with Germany.

 

But one could also apply the term to Leica's product QC....often fine (Leica Q, SL, certain M models, etc), and sometimes not (M8 LCD screens, M9 sensor corrosion, S lens AF mechanisms, etc). And not consistently rapid FW updates.

 

Room for improvement, as with any company, but highlighted by the price points.

 

Jeff

Edited October 3, 2017 by Jeff S