Experiences with Leica service

[SMAL]

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The funny thing is. No matter which answers you’ll get in here you’ll find a way to be upset. Since we all don’t agree with you, you’ll simply refer to us as Leica Fans. 

When in reality your expectations are simply out of proportion. 

[pico]

1 hour ago, Jul said:

I don't know how is set up the SMTP server at Leica

No need to do so. Your email takes care of such. Worry not.

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[Jul]

10 minutes ago, pico said:

No need to do so. Your email takes care of such. Worry not.

For I sure I don't as I do not have any issue with it, that's why I did not fire nc(1) to check it out.

These words you quoted were just meant as an introduction for the whole message not as a complaint.

[Paulus]

Am 18.1.2019 um 22:17 schrieb Ashkanani1985:

Thanx,  I know eventually i will get an answer and the camera too but my concern is the service here, its no where the promised great service and the advertised Leica customers support and its realy the worse i’ve seen from all manufacture. They act like a high end brand but in reality they are no where near that, in photography business you need to have better customer service than this if u want photographers to pay the 10K Tag on your item. 1 week a full 7 days just to get the papers to do the shippment, why? Because they send a two line email after your email by 48hrs at least ! 

The real problem that they know its a factory defected item and they don’t care, i wouldn’t imagine Omega or Rolex would do the same ! 

I have no experience with Omega and Rolex, but I happen to know other Swiss manufacturers who communicate a lot slower than leica does. If you call them , they are polite, but work wil not go any faster. Most of the times I have something repaired the watch is gone for weeks without really knowing what they do or when it is finished. Sometimes the watch is gone for months. last time a watch was " forgotten" so I informed after a few months...of course they apologized. 

 

I had my fair share of repairs with Leica. My first Leica an M6 titanium finished brok it's shutter after 25 shots. I was furious, so I can imagine your ferocity. I could not understand that  a camera that was 5 times my month salary at the time would break down so fast and that I had to wait for several weeks before they had it fixed. The most infuriating thing was, that I did not get a spare camera. 

They did not do this, giving you a spare camera. So after about four or five times having my camera sent back to leica during three years, I bought my own spare camera. A second hand Leica M6 Traveller. Since then I did not have a problem with the long waiting times. Also because every camera came back mostly in superior state. Like new and well taken care after. Leica cameras brake down ( I also notice that my digital Leica's have less problems ). But Leica IMO has excellent repairmen who can fix it. But sometimes it will cost you some weeks.

 

The last repair I had was my M240. Leica replaced the upper part of the camera because it was unpurposly dented by an colleague playing with my camera.

. I had some e-mails with Frau Frankl. She answered my mails back in a professional and polite way. I sometimes had to wait a day, sometimes an hour, for an  answer, but I imagined, she had other customers to, so that was no problem. I sent my Camera and they made it and sent it back in,  let me see`; 

2 November: Mail to Andrea Frankl, asking for an estimate for a new top.

5 November :Mail from A.F with the estimate. Several mails back that day. In the last mail at 16:37 I asked if the camera will be finished and sent back before the 11th of November.

6 November A,.F. informs me that the repair will take a while. The estimate is 4 weeks.  

6 November: I sent my M 240 to Wetzlar .

7 November I asked A.F. to mail me if the camera arrives.

8 November . A.F. answers at 8;18 hour to ask for the number of the package so that they could do a track and trace .

8 November 8:44 hour Leica sends me a message that the camera has arrived.

9 November I had four mails with A.F. on the same day, asking about possibilities to customize the M 240. The fifth mail she sends is an " Thank you " and the repair starts. 

15 November The Camera is repaired and the bill sent by mail. I pay the bill by Bank. 

19 November the banktransfer has arrived and the camera is sent back to me.

21 November : The camera is back home and looks like new!

I believe that Frau Frankl and the others are doing a good job. Sometimes it's busy ( I had to wait for 6-8 weeks sometimes ) sometimes not. I really do believe they care about good service, because they have IMHO. 

I really know that they really good in making things like new again. I also know, that if you buy an expensive camera or lens, that does not give you the right to demand of expect extraordinary service or a spare camera you can use during the time your camera is in repairs. 

 

Leica will make your camera like new again. It will happen as fast as they can. I noticed that a letter with a single filter takes about 9 days from Europe to the USA. A package maybe slower. Leica can only know if it's a factory defect if they have it at their factory. The rest is speculation I think. 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 20, 2019 by Paulus

[Paulus]

And yes, they have really great service! Last time I complained with Amazon about a set of forks. ( they turned out to be spoons )  they immediately sent me new spoons! When I complained they had sent me spoons again, they apologized in a very polite way and after a few days a new set of spoons arrived. After three times I sent it all back and they gave me back my money. Great service ,.....but still no forks....

It's different at Leica's.

 

[sunil]

31 minutes ago, Paulus said:

And yes, they have really great service! Last time I complained with Amazon about a set of forks. ( they turned out to be spoons )  they immediately sent me new spoons! When I complained they had sent me spoons again, they apologized in a very polite way and after a few days a new set of spoons arrived. After three times I sent it all back and they gave me back my money. Great service ,.....but still no forks....

It's different at Leica's.

 

Well there you go, that was your problem. You should have asked for knives and you would have received the forks you wanted.

[jaapv]

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Quote

I have no experience with Omega and Rolex, but I happen to know other Swiss manufacturers who communicate a lot slower than leica does. If you call them , they are polite, but work wil not go any faster. Most of the times I have something repaired the watch is gone for weeks without really knowing what they do or when it is finished. Sometimes the watch is gone for months. last time a watch was " forgotten" so I informed after a few months...of course they apologized. 

 

I had my fair share of repairs with Leica. My first leica an M6 titanium finished brok it's shutter after 25 shots. I was furious, so I can imagine your ferocity. I could not understand that  a camera that was 5 times my month salary at the time would break down so fast and that I had to wait for several weeks before they had it fixed. The most infuriating thing was, that I did not get a spare camera. 

They did not do this, giving you a spare camera. So after about four or five times having my camera sent back to leica during three years, I bought my own spare camera. A second hand Leica M6 Traveller. Since then I did not have a problem with the long waiting times. Also because every camera came back mostly in superior state. Like new and well taken care after. Leica cameras brake down. But Leica IMO has excellent repairmen who can fix it. But sometimes it will cost you some weeks. 

 

The last repair I had was my M240. Leica replaced the upper part of the camera because it was unpurposly dented by an collegae playing with my camera.

. I had some e-mails with Frau Frankl. She answered my mails back in a professional and polite way. I sometimes had to wait a day, sometimes an hour, for an  answer, but I imagined, she had other customers to, so that was no problem. I sent my Camera and they made it and sent it back in,  let me see`; 

2 November: Mail to Andrea Frankl, asking for an estimate for a new top.

5 November :Mail from A.F with the estimate. 

6 November: I sent my M 240 to Wetzlar 

7 November I asked A.F. to mail me if the camera arrives. She answers me the same day to ask for the number of the package so that they could do a track and trace .

8 November Leica sends me a message that the camera has arrived.

9 November I had four mails with A.F. on the same day, asking about possibilities to customize the M 240. The fifth mail she sends is an " Thank you " and the repair starts. 

15 November The Camera is repaired and the bill sent by mail. I pay the bill by Bank. 

19 November the banktransfer has arrived and the camera is sent back to me.

21 November : The camera is back home and looks like new!

I believe that Frau Frankl and the others are doing a good job. Sometimes it's busy ( I had to wait for 6-8 weeks sometimes ) sometimes not. I really do believe they care about good service, because they have IMHO. 

I really know that they really good in making things like new again. I also know, that if you buy an expensive camera or lens, that does not give you the right to demand of expect extraordinary service or a spare camera you can use during the time your camera is in repairs. 

 

Leica will make your camera like new again. It will happen as fast as they can. I noticed that a letter with a single filter takes about 9 days from Europe to the USA. A package maybe slower. Leica can only know if it's a factory defect if they have it at their factory. The rest is speculation I think.

May I add: If there is a compelling reason, Leica will make an effort to provide a courtesy loaner camera. if available. I experienced this when the sensor on my M9 died (unrelated to sensor issues, just one of those things). They could not replace it before I would leave for six weeks in Africa, They pulled a brand-new M-E off the line and sent it within the day. And it was not special treatment, others have had the same experience. Just talk to them. Leica is a very personal type of company.

[Ashkanani1985]

I think I was a bit angry and frustrated and yes I do agree I should have referee to the dealer but as I mentioned earlier the dealer option would have taken a much longer time due to not availably of M10-P, and maybe the fact I was expecting total perfection out of the box which is something not always happen a little pissed me off, any way I took this way so now I will wait and see what happen.

[oka]

On 1/20/2019 at 8:35 PM, Ashkanani1985 said:

I think I was a bit angry and frustrated and yes I do agree I should have referee to the dealer but as I mentioned earlier the dealer option would have taken a much longer time due to not availably of M10-P, and maybe the fact I was expecting total perfection out of the box which is something not always happen a little pissed me off, any way I took this way so now I will wait and see what happen.

...well I do understand your frustration, I've been on the same boat my self.

I was Canon user and switched to the Leica about year ago. Bought two M10, both had RF our of calibration, one of the body had defective sensor. Bought two M10-P's, and both had RF calibration off. After it came from the service, one of the M10-P RF was more out of calibration than it was before the service.

With lenses, I'm not having great success either. Lux 21, 28, 50 and 75 has been serviced multiple times. Lux 75 is gone for 4th time and 28 was completely rebuild. APO50 had focus off, very loose aperture ring and defect (coating error) on the front element which was "normal" but it was fixed after I complained that multiple times. Cron 35 & 90, out of calibration. 90 was so dusty from brand new which was cleaned also during the service. Noct 50 0.95 slightly loose aperture ring... and this is not even all the problems I've encountered.

...only devices which has not been serviced are 28 Summaron 5.6 lens and SL body.

Do I feel frustrated? Yes, I was furious that even brand new devices had so many problems. I couldn't understand the service times when I was spoiled with Canon's two day promise or I could lend any lenses and bodies during the service.

Something I have learn from this that, with Leica one backup body is not enough. I have now three. With lenses, have some spares also and enjoy the differences on same time.

But oh, when I look the images, I forget all the hassle I've have encountered. The feel I get when using M is addictive, something which I've never experienced with my Canon setup.

So hang on there, after disappointments and anger... Leica gives you so much pleasure.

It's like marriage, hate and love.

[pico]

6 minutes ago, oka said:

Something I have learn from this that, with Leica one backup body is not enough. I have now three. With lenses, have some spares also and enjoy the differences on same time.

So much for the virtue of competent compact cameras.

 

Edited January 21, 2019 by pico

[steveclem]

37 minutes ago, oka said:

...well I do understand your frustration, I've been on the same boat my self.

I was Canon user and switched to the Leica about year ago. Bought two M10, both had RF our of calibration, one of the body had defective sensor. Bought two M10-P's, and both had RF calibration off. After it came from the service, one of the M10-P RF was more out of calibration than it was before the service.

With lenses, I'm not having great success either. Lux 21, 28, 50 and 75 has been serviced multiple times. Lux 75 is gone for 4th time and 28 was completely rebuild. APO50 had focus off, very loose aperture ring and defect (coating error) on the front element which was "normal" but it was fixed after I complained that multiple times. Cron 35 & 90, out of calibration. 90 was so dusty from brand new which was cleaned also during the service. Noct 50 0.95 slightly loose aperture ring... and this is not even all the problems I've encountered.

...only devices which has not been serviced are 28 Summaron 5.6 lens and SL body.

Do I feel frustrated? Yes, I was furious that even brand new devices had so many problems. I couldn't understand the service times when I was spoiled with Canon's two day promise or I could lend any lenses and bodies during the service.

Something I have learn from this that, with Leica one backup body is not enough. I have now three. With lenses, have some spares also and enjoy the differences on same time.

But oh, when I look the images, I forget all the hassle I've have encountered. The feel I get when using M is addictive, something which I've never experienced with my Canon setup.

So hang on there, after disappointments and anger... Leica gives you so much pleasure.

It's like marriage, hate and love.

That is, frankly, a disgrace. (from Leica). 

[SMAL]

Since personal experience seem to matter.

I bought a M10, 24Lux, 35Lux, 50Lux and 50/0.95 Noctilux and everything is perfectly adjusted. 

[earleygallery]

17 minutes ago, SMAL said:

Since personal experience seem to matter.

I bought a M10, 24Lux, 35Lux, 50Lux and 50/0.95 Noctilux and everything is perfectly adjusted. 

I'm sure if you send them all back to Leica they can fix that for you!

[SMAL]

vor 4 Minuten schrieb earleygallery:

I'm sure if you send them all back to Leica they can fix that for you!

I visitied Wetzlar personally in December on my trip from France to Germany. While visiting the plant, they checked and cleaned all my equipment and believe it or not it’s still all spot on.

[thighslapper]

Mr Ashkanani ...... sorry to hear about your problems...

I'm intrigued to know what the '3 issues' were that made you send the camera back.

In my experience how much an item costs does not necessarily correlate well with customer support. Leica have never been quick at anything  ..... methodical , reliable, courteous and with care ..... yes.... fast .... no.  If you are an old hand like Jaap you know how to get the best out of them, but the rest of us just have to patiently wait our turn. 

My customer service contacts have all been positive ..... but getting things done really quickly has never featured in the experience ....

Edited January 21, 2019 by thighslapper

[Jeff S]

Leica NJ service quality has been inconsistent, so “reliable” isn’t a term I would use for them. But they’re working on improvements.  In the meantime, third party folks like DAG fill some of the void.  

Jeff

[Guest]

4 hours ago, oka said:

...well I do understand your frustration, I've been on the same boat my self.

 

same here...too many times unfortunately

While I love the cameras and lenses, and the HQ staff can be very helpful, Leica's poor quality control and slow repair & warranty service has left me feeling very frustrated on a number of occasions. My M8.2, two M9s, an M9M and a Q have all had issues either out of the box or within the warranty period, along with a 28mm Summicron ASPH v2, and a 21mm SEM.

 Perhaps it's insanity but I still love using Leica's

Edited January 22, 2019 by Guest

[Ashkanani1985]

10 hours ago, thighslapper said:

Mr Ashkanani ...... sorry to hear about your problems...

I'm intrigued to know what the '3 issues' were that made you send the camera back.

In my experience how much an item costs does not necessarily correlate well with customer support. Leica have never been quick at anything  ..... methodical , reliable, courteous and with care ..... yes.... fast .... no.  If you are an old hand like Jaap you know how to get the best out of them, but the rest of us just have to patiently wait our turn. 

My customer service contacts have all been positive ..... but getting things done really quickly has never featured in the experience ....

Hi 

the main issue is the digital display in the view finder you can not read the (shutter or iso) that is displayed its very hazy or look like its out of place, another issue is the iso dial is lose specially when locked in and finally its not a big deal the rangefinder glass have some visible dust.

[pgk]

13 hours ago, oka said:

Something I have learn from this that, with Leica one backup body is not enough. I have now three.

Its all down to one's own experience. I have one back up body and a well beat up primary body which has worked hard and never missed a beat despite dents and paint losses. I must dig out the back up body and actually use it - I don't think I've switched it on for over 12 months. Actually with the excepions of an M8 sensor remap, replacement sensors on both M9s and physical damage, my digital Leicas have proven very reliable indeed.

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Hallo,

Look here: Leica M

[Paulus]

vor 15 Stunden schrieb oka:

...well I do understand your frustration, I've been on the same boat my self.

I was Canon user and switched to the Leica about year ago. Bought two M10, both had RF our of calibration, one of the body had defective sensor. Bought two M10-P's, and both had RF calibration off. After it came from the service, one of the M10-P RF was more out of calibration than it was before the service.

With lenses, I'm not having great success either. Lux 21, 28, 50 and 75 has been serviced multiple times. Lux 75 is gone for 4th time and 28 was completely rebuild. APO50 had focus off, very loose aperture ring and defect (coating error) on the front element which was "normal" but it was fixed after I complained that multiple times. Cron 35 & 90, out of calibration. 90 was so dusty from brand new which was cleaned also during the service. Noct 50 0.95 slightly loose aperture ring... and this is not even all the problems I've encountered.

...only devices which has not been serviced are 28 Summaron 5.6 lens and SL body.

Do I feel frustrated? Yes, I was furious that even brand new devices had so many problems. I couldn't understand the service times when I was spoiled with Canon's two day promise or I could lend any lenses and bodies during the service.

Something I have learn from this that, with Leica one backup body is not enough. I have now three. With lenses, have some spares also and enjoy the differences on same time.

But oh, when I look the images, I forget all the hassle I've have encountered. The feel I get when using M is addictive, something which I've never experienced with my Canon setup.

So hang on there, after disappointments and anger... Leica gives you so much pleasure.

It's like marriage, hate and love.

O you unlucky Leica Man, over €60.000,- of Leica trouble. I hope it was not in one year. But you must have a great marriage, thinking like this.