Very good news regarding Leica service facility in New jersey

[stuny]

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My Q had a failure while we were in the Yucatan last month.  Soon after we returned, I took my Q to the Leica facility in Allendale, New Jersey.  By pure luck only a few days earlier they reopened the facility to personal drop-offs.  When I arrived Gloria Ruis was exceptionally helpful in receiving my camera and telling me about some of their procedural changes (which I believe she suggested to management, and management put into practice).  The new practice involves giving the customer a specific contact within the service department along with that person's telephone number.  I'm mentioning my contact's name - but please do not contact her -contact whomever Gloria gives you as your contact - because her sense of customer service quality is so good I must give her the positive press:  Kathy Carbone.  Kathy is very responsive, empathetic, warm and efficient, and I look forward to getting back my Q next month.

[kivis]

good to know, thx.

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[wellfleet]

49 minutes ago, stuny said:

My Q had a failure while we were in the Yucatan last month.  Soon after we returned, I took my Q to the Leica facility in Allendale, New Jersey.  By pure luck only a few days earlier they reopened the facility to personal drop-offs.  When I arrived Gloria Ruis was exceptionally helpful in receiving my camera and telling me about some of their procedural changes (which I believe she suggested to management, and management put into practice).  The new practice involves giving the customer a specific contact within the service department along with that person's telephone number.  I'm mentioning my contact's name - but please do not contact her -contact whomever Gloria gives you as your contact - because her sense of customer service quality is so good I must give her the positive press:  Kathy Carbone.  Kathy is very responsive, empathetic, warm and efficient, and I look forward to getting back my Qnext month.

Thanks, and good to know as my only contact there retired not too long ago. 

[wda]

Service as it should be. Well done!

[Jeff S]

That addresses part of the NJ problems.  Now let’s hope the actual repair/technician competencies, billing practices and turnaround times improve.  And most customers aren’t located nearby for drop-offs. Long way to go… but progress has to start somewhere.

Jeff

[fotografr]

I'll be very interested to learn how long your repair takes. Kathy is a Customer Care Advisor and is also my contact person for getting the shutter repaired on my M9M. I approved the repair estimate on April 8, and am still waiting with no word on when the camera will be fixed and returned. 

Edited May 17, 2022 by fotografr

[stuny]

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They quoted me 4-6 weeks from the moment I approved the estimate and gave therm my credit card info.  I also asked for a drop dead date at about 4 1/2 weeks so I could bring the Q along on a trip.  Kathy made note of it and ensured I got the camera in time.

[fotografr]

5 hours ago, stuny said:

They quoted me 4-6 weeks from the moment I approved the estimate and gave therm my credit card info.  I also asked for a drop dead date at about 4 1/2 weeks so I could bring the Q along on a trip.  Kathy made note of it and ensured I got the camera in time.

I also tried that because I had an event 10 days ago that I really wanted to have it for. It made no difference at all. I think the customer care representatives are completely at the mercy of the repair techs. 

[stuny]

M y guess is that they can only make suggestions to the techs, as well as be the point of contact for his.

[fotografr]

On 5/18/2022 at 1:33 AM, stuny said:

They quoted me 4-6 weeks from the moment I approved the estimate and gave therm my credit card info.  I also asked for a drop dead date at about 4 1/2 weeks so I could bring the Q along on a trip.  Kathy made note of it and ensured I got the camera in time.

Did you actually get your camera repaired by the promised time? My camera has been sitting there now for six weeks and I still can't get anyone to tell me when it's going to be repaired. If it's not done next week I'm going to register a complaint with the home office in Germany. To pay the kind of money we do for Leica products and then get such rotten repair service just isn't right.

[gotium]

2 hours ago, fotografr said:

Did you actually get your camera repaired by the promised time? My camera has been sitting there now for six weeks and I still can't get anyone to tell me when it's going to be repaired. If it's not done next week I'm going to register a complaint with the home office in Germany. To pay the kind of money we do for Leica products and then get such rotten repair service just isn't right.

Oh, you have no idea. Worst product service experience I can ever remember having was with Leica New Jersey.  

Edited May 20, 2022 by gotium

[stuny]

Brent -

They got it back to me befoer my drop dead date.

[fotografr]

4 hours ago, stuny said:

Brent -

They got it back to me befoer my drop dead date.

I guess what I'll have to do is hop on a plane, fly to the city, rent a car and drive to the New Jersey facility, then be really, really nice to the people there. Maybe even take candy and flowers. 

Today I'm going to begin the process of complaining to people at Wetzlar, starting at the top. 

Edited May 20, 2022 by fotografr

[fotografr]

6 hours ago, gotium said:

Oh, you have no idea. Worst product service experience I can ever remember having was with Leica New Jersey.  

Actually, I do have a pretty good idea. When I sent my M9M in for sensor replacement, it took nearly 16 weeks to get it back. 

[fotografr]

On 5/19/2022 at 7:47 AM, stuny said:

M y guess is that they can only make suggestions to the techs, as well as be the point of contact for his.

The problem, in part, is that apparently the Customer Care Advisors tend to respond with the standard line, " repairs usually take four to five weeks." They don't bother to actually ask anyone specifically when a particular camera is scheduled for repair. The facility is quite small. How hard is it to go into the service area and communicate directly with a tech about a camera so as to give specific information to the person waiting for the repair?

[beewee]

On 5/20/2022 at 6:19 AM, fotografr said:

Actually, I do have a pretty good idea. When I sent my M9M in for sensor replacement, it took nearly 16 weeks to get it back. 

At least you got your camera back.

I had a M10 that was sent to Leica for rangefinder calibration because it arrived out of calibration when I got it new. It was shipped through my local Leica authorized retailer for servicing and I waited 6 months only to find out the camera was lost in the mail and no one knew about it. The dumbest thing is that I checked in with the store that handled the service for me and they followed up with Leica several times over the course of the 6 months only to be brushed off by Leica until the full 6 months lapsed and Leica service got off their butts to look into things and realized what had happened.

Luckily the camera store that shipped the camera on my behalf took the hit and gave me a replacement M10 which was their store demo unit but this is still very annoying because:

• I was out a camera for 6 months and this should have been caught a few weeks in - at most
• I lost my original camera, which was in brand new condition, and the one that I got as a replacement had about 5x more shutter actuations than the camera I had even though I had used my original M10 for almost a year before sending it in.
• My paperwork and box no longer the actual body that I have

Edited May 22, 2022 by beewee

[fotografr]

20 hours ago, beewee said:

At least you got your camera back.

I had a M10 that was sent to Leica for rangefinder calibration because it arrived out of calibration when I got it new. It was shipped through my local Leica authorized retailer for servicing and I waited 6 months only to find out the camera was lost in the mail and no one knew about it. The dumbest thing is that I checked in with the store that handled the service for me and they followed up with Leica several times over the course of the 6 months only to be brushed off by Leica until the full 6 months lapsed and Leica service got off their butts to look into things and realized what had happened.

Luckily the camera store that shipped the camera on my behalf took the hit and gave me a replacement M10 which was their store demo unit but this is still very annoying because:

• I was out a camera for 6 months and this should have been caught a few weeks in - at most
• I lost my original camera, which was in brand new condition, and the one that I got as a replacement had about 5x more shutter actuations than the camera I had even though I had used my original M10 for almost a year before sending it in.
• My paperwork and box no longer the actual body that I have

You're right. That is far worse than anything that's happened to me. It seems to me the store should have given you a new camera as replacement, including boxes and paperwork. 

In your case, part of the blame should go on the US Postal Service, which has gotten pretty terrible since Trump put Louis DeJoy in charge. 

[charlesphoto99]

My favorite NJ moment was when they took twelve weeks to put a coded bayonet mount on my 28 Summicron. Lack of parts supposedly. Problem is they sent it back coded as a 24mm asph. Another three weeks to correct that mistake. IME, Leica NJ has been pretty useless, going all the way back to my first used M6 in 1992 that I had to send in three times before they would admit there was a light leak problem and could fix it (all on my shipping dime). 

[fotografr]

I got my MM1 back yesterday and in all fairness I have to say some good things about the service. I was not particularly polite about the length of time it was taking and eventually resorted to getting some assistance from a VP in Wetzlar. The camera came back working perfectly with new leather covering and a spotless sensor. It literally looks like a brand new camera. Also, the customer service people remained courteous to me even though I likely caused some of them to get raked over the coals by some senior management. Now, back to shooting. 

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[Jeff S]

Years ago when I sent my 50 Summilux ASPH to NJ to fix its 'sticky' focus action, time passed and I asked my customer rep (to whom I directly sent the lens) to let me speak with the tech working on my lens. The good news....she did.  The bad news...the tech said he couldn't fix it.  I asked for the lens back and sent it to DAG.  He had it back to me in under 2 weeks, working perfectly, for $90, including shipping.  Fortunately, I haven't had the need to deal with NJ since.  

Jeff