Service time Wetzlar

[69xchange]

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44 minutes ago, Bobonli said:

I hope to never need to send my camera back to the nest for repair. Something, whether we like them or not, take time; granted half a year is very long. FWIW I reached out to Nikon to service my 1983 FM and they told me they stopped servicing film cameras years ago. On the one hand, it's amazing Leica still works on the old hardware; on the other hand, I'd be mighty angry if I bought an M11 and had to wait that long for a repair. Perhaps I don't understand the queue, but I'd like to hope that the new cameras get pushed to the front of the line for service. 

I believe newer analog cameras under warranty gets a bit more priority. Huss M6 only took 2 months vs 6-7 months.

 

As for digital, Leica NJ can repair that in house so wait times are usually a month to two from what I read. 
 

[Huss]

1 hour ago, Helge said:

As I mentioned (don’t you read my posts) Leica cameras are repaired in a lot of cases only in Germany and Leica undergoes presently a run of all kind of repair requests for cameras back to M3. Maybe Nikon/Canon/Sony have similar issues with their mechanical cameras with RF (oops) or even their analogue cameras (if they still repair them) 😀

Leica Germany has even re-activated former, retired employees.

This increase in requests combined with the virtually impossible increase of people with the necessary experience and expertise creates the problem.

The problem is absolutely common across the country.

Maybe you should watch sometimes another TV station that covers also international news…

And perhaps you didn’t read my post saying it has been this bad since at least the release of the M9 over 10 years ago.

But Leica appreciates your comments as with comments like that they see no need to improve their processes.  

[KlarNebel]

On 7/15/2023 at 11:10 PM, Huss said:

And perhaps you didn’t read my post saying it has been this bad since at least the release of the M9 over 10 years ago.

But Leica appreciates your comments as with comments like that they see no need to improve their processes.  

In addition to people retiring, the problem is that even if they train new people it is not certain that they stay with Leica. The job they officially train people for is a mix of mechanical and electronic engineering in practice. Those who complete the three years of training are highly sought after in Germany. Companies like Mercedes, Volkswagen and other manufacturers are trying their hardest to get people like that. And trust me, they can pay way better than Leica can. (Even though it is a luxury brand.)

And that is a fact that has been around for at least ten years. Not a new problem.

Are seven month unacceptable? Sure. Can you get your old Nikon F2 still serviced by Nikon? No.
You are angry and I understand that. But it is not just down to Leica. They would have had to hire people to sit around all day doing nothing back in the late 2000s, just so they would have the staff they need today. They didn't.

Retaining high skill employees for a long time has become a big problem in Germany.

[CSG123]

1 hour ago, KlarNebel said:

In addition to people retiring, the problem is that even if they train new people it is not certain that they stay with Leica. The job they officially train people for is a mix of mechanical and electronic engineering in practice. Those who complete the three years of training are highly sought after in Germany. Companies like Mercedes, Volkswagen and other manufacturers are trying their hardest to get people like that. And trust me, they can pay way better than Leica can. (Even though it is a luxury brand.)

And that is a fact that has been around for at least ten years. Not a new problem.

Are seven month unacceptable? Sure. Can you get your old Nikon F2 still serviced by Nikon? No.
You are angry and I understand that. But it is not just down to Leica. They would have had to hire people to sit around all day doing nothing back in the late 2000s, just so they would have the staff they need today. They didn't.

Retaining high skill employees for a long time has become a big problem in Germany.

So considering so many problems are reported with new Leicas and their exceptionally high cost as a luxury brand, maybe buying new is a poor idea.  A 7 month wait to get your new Leica camera repaired under their own warranty is simply unacceptable in my world.  At least I can get my Rolex serviced by Rolex in 4-6 weeks.

Edited July 17, 2023 by CSG123

[Huss]

1 hour ago, KlarNebel said:

In addition to people retiring, the problem is that even if they train new people it is not certain that they stay with Leica. The job they officially train people for is a mix of mechanical and electronic engineering in practice. Those who complete the three years of training are highly sought after in Germany. Companies like Mercedes, Volkswagen and other manufacturers are trying their hardest to get people like that. And trust me, they can pay way better than Leica can. (Even though it is a luxury brand.)

And that is a fact that has been around for at least ten years. Not a new problem.

Are seven month unacceptable? Sure. Can you get your old Nikon F2 still serviced by Nikon? No.
You are angry and I understand that. But it is not just down to Leica. They would have had to hire people to sit around all day doing nothing back in the late 2000s, just so they would have the staff they need today. They didn't.

Retaining high skill employees for a long time has become a big problem in Germany.

I'm not angry.  I'm pointing out excuses made for Leica - for issues that have existed for over a decade - which miraculously none of the other mfgs are affected by.

But Leica sees no reason to change because people accept it.  My brand new M6 was delivered broken and Leica took 2 months to fix it.  A brand new camera.  Nikon with a brand new camera?  They would have just given me another one.  Or taken 5 days to fix.

[KlarNebel]

On 7/17/2023 at 7:37 PM, Huss said:

I'm not angry.  I'm pointing out excuses made for Leica - for issues that have existed for over a decade - which miraculously none of the other mfgs are affected by.

But Leica sees no reason to change because people accept it.  My brand new M6 was delivered broken and Leica took 2 months to fix it.  A brand new camera.  Nikon with a brand new camera?  They would have just given me another one.  Or taken 5 days to fix.

Wasn’t the first batch of new M6 sold out pretty much immediately? If there’s no replacement, how can they give you one. Leica doesn’t produce large quantities at once, unlike Nikon.

You also brush aside every time that Leica is the only camera company still servicing 100% of their product line dating back to the 1920s.

The wait time is too long, I agree, especially if you bought a new camera, but the problem isn’t easily fixable. Unless they make less new cameras and exclude some old gear from service. But who would do that?

[KlarNebel]

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On 7/17/2023 at 7:17 PM, CSG123 said:

So considering so many problems are reported with new Leicas and their exceptionally high cost as a luxury brand, maybe buying new is a poor idea.  A 7 month wait to get your new Leica camera repaired under their own warranty is simply unacceptable in my world.  At least I can get my Rolex serviced by Rolex in 4-6 weeks.

The 7 months wait time is for analogue cameras without warranty. Apparently new gear within warranty gets fixed a bit faster. About two months.

[Huss]

1 minute ago, KlarNebel said:

Wasn’t the first batch of new M6 sold out pretty much immediately? If there’s no replacement, how can they give you one. Leica doesn’t produce large quantities at once, unlike Nikon.

 

Simple, they can give me the next one available instead of sending it out to distribution.

[Anbaric]

8 minutes ago, KlarNebel said:

You also brush aside every time that Leica is the only camera company still servicing 100% of their product line dating back to the 1920s

The M5, CL, M6 Classic and M6-TTL can't be fully serviced. Neither can various R cameras nor older digitals. Anything that relies on electronics will have a limited service life unless a company makes heroic efforts to come up with replacement technology when obsolete components are no longer available from their suppliers. Optical components like older brightline masks and RF prisms have also become unavailable, though third party technicians have stepped in to manufacture replacements.

[Huss]

2 hours ago, KlarNebel said:

You also brush aside every time that Leica is the only camera company still servicing 100% of their product line dating back to the 1920s.

Completely false.

They provide limited service to M7, M6 TTL.

And do not service M5 or any R series.

[jaapv]

That is true - I need my garage painted. The painter will come - sometime half 2025...

[Huss]

On 7/20/2023 at 10:32 AM, jaapv said:

That is true - I need my garage painted. The painter will come - sometime half 2025...

Well if you hire a painter from Leica, for sure.

[CSG123]

1 hour ago, Huss said:

Well if you hire a painter from Leica, for sure.

Yeah, but they'll miss a couple spots...

[madNbad]

15 minutes ago, CSG123 said:

Yeah, but they'll miss a couple spots...

And scratch a few things while they’re at it.

[jaapv]

On 7/20/2023 at 7:27 PM, Huss said:

Completely false.

They provide limited service to M7, M6 TTL.

And do not service M5 or any R series.

And ditched most of the Barnack spare parts when moving to Solms...

[Huss]

7 hours ago, jaapv said:

And ditched most of the Barnack spare parts when moving to Solms...

Wasn't there a rumour that one establishment bought out all the R8/9 spare parts from Leica, and are just sitting on them?  As in they refuse to sell any to whoever needs something?

[jaapv]

That is my understanding as well. 

[jaapv]

On 7/15/2023 at 9:03 PM, Huss said:

Then tell me why, in Germany, Nikon/Canon/Sony etc do not have this issue?  Trying to claim they just swap out components is grasping at straws.  Leica does the same too.

And tell me why in the USA Leica is also as bad?  They get away with this because people like you make excuses for them.  As long as there are enough who accept this awful customer service, there is no reason for them to change.

 Because there are very few old cameras being repaired. If anybody wants an old Canikon repaired they either do so themselves, use a third party or throw it in the bin. Leica gets more old cameras in which call for more skill and experience and clog up the system. 

[Huss]

8 minutes ago, jaapv said:

That is my understanding as well. 

That is so strange, because what is the point of having all those parts unless one is planning on reselling them?  And that has not happened.

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Hallo,

Look here: Leica M

[jaapv]

Maybe he is betting on an increase in value.