Q2 cast metal body is brittle?

[jaapv]

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On 9/11/2021 at 4:50 PM, Herr Barnack said:

@anrando - In making the above statements, it sounds to me like they have painted themselves into a corner. 

These statements are tantamount to admitting that the top cover is indeed defective, and then they try to assert that this defect is not covered by warranty.  Why?  "Because that's what we decided, that's why - and to hell with the warranty and the laws governing it."  That attitude is clearly not acceptable - and while I am not well versed on consumer protection laws in Germany, I have my doubts that this position is in harmony with the laws that govern such matters. 

I am no metallurgist, but I am inclined to agree with @jaapv on his assessment:  "It looks like it was a nest of porosities. Undoubtedly a casting fault."  Solid cast magnesium alloy should not crumble like that if it was properly cast. 

Do as you think best, but I would urge you to not take no for an answer.  The warranty department's response to you is quite simply unreasonable and obnoxious; it's simply appalling to treat a customer this way. 

It's one thing to charge thousands for your cameras and lenses - but when a company does, their warranty coverage and their customer care had damn well better be the gold standard of the camera industry.

 

 

 

The trick with Leica (as with many other companies) is to take it higher up into the organisation to draw the attention of top management. Write a letter and address it to Dr. A. Kaufmann.

[Herr Barnack]

1 hour ago, jaapv said:

The trick with Leica (as with many other companies) is to take it higher up into the organisation to draw the attention of top management. Write a letter and address it to Dr. A. Kaufmann.

That's very true. 

If @anrando is persistent and climbs up the Leica hierarchy with his issue, at some point he will likely get it resolved in a satisfactory manner.  It would be infinitely preferable if consumers were not required to play that game and even those at the lowest point of contact in the hierarchy were on the same page as the Pooh-Bahs. 

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[Le Chef]

2 hours ago, Herr Barnack said:

That's very true. 

If @anrando is persistent and climbs up the Leica hierarchy with his issue, at some point he will likely get it resolved in a satisfactory manner.  It would be infinitely preferable if consumers were not required to play that game and even those at the lowest point of contact in the hierarchy were on the same page as the Pooh-Bahs. 

The Pooh-Bahs understand the cost of negative publicity to the brand. Lower points of contacts are only asked to minimize the organization’s costs when it comes to things like repair or replacement. Two different ends of the telescope.

[Yarosuav]

On 9/7/2021 at 10:08 PM, anrando said:

Hello,

I was cleaning up my Q2 and noticed that a small piece of the body had sheared off.  The camera has never been dropped or hit against anything that I recall.  This must have happened when the camera came into contact with a table edge while wearing it strapped around my neck.  I can think of no other possibility.  The body metal didnt dent, scratch,  or compress it just broke off like untempered iron or pot metal. This has surprised me.  I had hoped the metal body might be a bit more "tough".  It frightens to think if it were actually dropped.  It might break in half!

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Oh, the horror! 

[gotium]

Agree with Herr Barnack on this. Calling the damage "unprecedented" sounds equivalent to "manufacturing defect."

Now if they'd said, "oh, this is typical for damage from shrapnel" you could argue that it was caused by something as innocent as storing your camera with live grenades. 

[anrando]

12 hours ago, jarek0423 said:

Oh, the horror! 

Wasn’t looking for sympathy.  Just alerting the community to be careful of edge knocks as the body clearly can’t tolerate any such occurrence. I remember my old dented “brass” slr`s back in the day.  The “chunking” of the metal alloy in this camera just surprised me.  I had never seen anything like it before.

W. Unland

Edited September 14, 2021 by anrando

[earleygallery]

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27 minutes ago, anrando said:

Wasn’t looking for sympathy.  Just alerting the community to be careful of edge knocks as the body clearly can’t tolerate any such occurrence. I remember my old dented “brass” slr`s back in the day.  The “chunking” of the metal alloy in this camera just surprised me.  I had never seen anything like it before.

W. Unland

I have seen similar on a very heavily used and battered Canon 5D body, although more like deep scratches rather than the body crumbling away.

[Herr Barnack]

14 hours ago, anrando said:

Wasn’t looking for sympathy.  Just alerting the community to be careful of edge knocks as the body clearly can’t tolerate any such occurrence. I remember my old dented “brass” slr`s back in the day.  The “chunking” of the metal alloy in this camera just surprised me.  I had never seen anything like it before.

W. Unland

Given the possible crumbling of the Q2 top plate, I'll bet Gabriele Micalizzi was glad he was using his SL2 when he experienced this, uh, "workplace mishap" -

https://leicarumors.com/2019/02/27/leica-camera-saved-the-life-of-an-italian-photojournalist-in-syria.aspx/  😳

Edited September 15, 2021 by Herr Barnack

[AndreasG]

In such a case I would write a business letter - no fax, no email -, printed on "heavy" paper of 100g/m2, addressed to Dr. Kaufmann at the Leica headquarter Germany. Explaining politely the situation, including the disappointment with the local/regional Leica Service, together with a photo and asking for an amicable solution.

[Desperado]

As a new owner [and 'member' here], I would be very angry at myself for knocking the camera, however hard or soft, noticed or not. While if you don't ask you don't get, if it wasn't new and a Leica, personally I would probably just paint the chip black and carry on, regarding it as a battle-scar. Not that any of my cameras have such scars…. yet. I count myself lucky and rather careful in equal measure. 

It is certainly worth pursuing Leica for a possible warranty repair, but having much experience with various company's warranty procedures and policies, working on behalf of clients, I wouldn't be too optimistic about this. It is more of an 'insurance job' for accidental damage than a warranty job. Best of luck though.