Ediz7531 Posted October 13, 2022 Share #1 Posted October 13, 2022 (edited) Advertisement (gone after registration) There is a post on Reddit’s Leica community about Leica no longer allowing independent repair persons to buy parts from them as of last April: I’m wondering if anyone here has heard of this, and the rationale for it. Seems like a really shortsighted move on Leica’s part. Edit: thought this might be relevant here as it would affect film M repairs the most. Edited October 13, 2022 by Ediz7531 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted October 13, 2022 Posted October 13, 2022 Hi Ediz7531, Take a look here Leica no longer selling parts to third party repair shops?. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
satijntje Posted October 13, 2022 Share #2 Posted October 13, 2022 1st April joke 🙂 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ediz7531 Posted October 13, 2022 Author Share #3 Posted October 13, 2022 10 minutes ago, satijntje said: 1st April joke 🙂 I’m certainly not joking about it, nor do I detect humor in the well regarded repair person quoted in the post Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
M Street Photographer Posted October 13, 2022 Share #4 Posted October 13, 2022 (edited) The repair times in Wetzlar are now very long, sometimes several months. If spare parts were no longer supplied to other workshops, the repair times would be even longer. This is incomprehensible for a premium product. Aside from one's affection for one's camera, a failure would be unbearable. Not everyone gets a free rental device for repairs, so what do those who depend on their camera for professional reasons do? Edited October 13, 2022 by M Street Photographer Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
plaidshirts Posted October 13, 2022 Share #5 Posted October 13, 2022 I know DAG couldn't sell black Leica dots anymore, but I was unaware of restrictions on other parts. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Huss Posted October 13, 2022 Share #6 Posted October 13, 2022 Seeing how bad the repair work is at Leica NJ, where people often have to send their ‘repaired’ cameras to an indie tech to correct issues, this does not bode well. As well as the ridiculous wait times. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaapv Posted October 13, 2022 Share #7 Posted October 13, 2022 Advertisement (gone after registration) Leica has always been restrictive about selling spare parts. Reason: Parts are ordered in batches and often in short supply as they are dependent on the production schedule of their suppliers.. They are not Canikosony who can order one million shutters in one go. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BradS Posted October 13, 2022 Share #8 Posted October 13, 2022 (edited) Nikon stopped selling parts to independent shops some years ago and as a result, many of those shops stopped repairing Nikons. Some shops even refused to look at them for basic maintenance services....this is actually the main reason that, for the first time in my life, I seriously considered buying a Leica and eventually did buy one in 2018....and like the rest of you, one led to another and then some lenses, etc... Fortunately, I did not sell my Nikons and the situation has improved somewhat lately....still, this is mildly disappointing. Edited October 13, 2022 by BradS 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
fotomas Posted October 13, 2022 Share #9 Posted October 13, 2022 I got the information from the website of a repair-shop that Nikon acts like this a few years ago. Rather costumer unfriendly in my opinion, but may be not uncommon in these days. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Huss Posted October 13, 2022 Share #10 Posted October 13, 2022 12 minutes ago, BradS said: Nikon stopped selling parts to independent shops some years ago and as a result, many of those shops stopped repairing Nikons. Some shops even refused to look at them for basic maintenance services....this is actually the main reason that, for the first time in my life, I seriously considered buying a Leica and eventually did buy one in 2018....and like the rest of you, one led to another and then some lenses, etc... Fortunately, I did not sell my Nikons and the situation has improved somewhat lately....still, this is mildly disappointing. The difference with Nikon is they have many official repair facilities, and when you drop your camera off you get it back in a couple of days. My experience from when my F6 needed repair, and when my z7 had a recall. Leica? Months. 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anbaric Posted October 13, 2022 Share #11 Posted October 13, 2022 4 hours ago, Ediz7531 said: There is a post on Reddit’s Leica community about Leica no longer allowing independent repair persons to buy parts from them as of last April Both the post and the poster seem to have been deleted. I believe they were quoting Jadon Rosado, who is also a user here and might like to comment. We have some other technicians on the forum - I wonder what their experience has been and whether they've been required to go through the 'authorisation' process that the post mentioned? Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Brown Posted October 13, 2022 Share #12 Posted October 13, 2022 Has anyone bothered to ask DAG? Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
madNbad Posted October 13, 2022 Share #13 Posted October 13, 2022 (edited) This comes from a tech who used to work with Jadon. The person that ran the parts department at Leica NJ retired and there has been no rush to replace him. If you ever called the parts department, he knew where everything was and always offered helpful advice. The take away is, be patient, Leica moves at their own pace and supplying parts to third party technicians is not a priority. Edited October 13, 2022 by madNbad Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
madNbad Posted October 13, 2022 Share #14 Posted October 13, 2022 As for everyone who thought there is a warehouse parts department with robotic pickers, apparently that is not the case. Remember, this is the same company that developed the arcane way of naming parts to save money on telegrams. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Huss Posted October 13, 2022 Share #15 Posted October 13, 2022 1 hour ago, madNbad said: As for everyone who thought there is a warehouse parts department with robotic pickers, apparently that is not the case. Remember, this is the same company that developed the arcane way of naming parts to save money on telegrams. From what I see, Ikea copied that naming convention. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
250swb Posted October 14, 2022 Share #16 Posted October 14, 2022 Perhaps Leica are simply seeing cameras arrive in their service department that need to be rectified after a CLA by an incompetent repairer? Is it worth their reputation selling parts to unqualified people? People go on about 'Leica quality' and then moan when they try to maintain it in the aftermarket. It's a difficult balancing act, there are many companies that like to treat their customers as a 'family', but that then means they get locked into higher costs long term through manufacturer servicing and parts. But if the story is true I think it may be just a case of 'whoa, this is getting out of control'. 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 14, 2022 Share #17 Posted October 14, 2022 (edited) There’s Right to Repair legislation coming on stream soon, if it isn’t already in place, so I’m surprised Leica have acted like this. Apple has changed their procedures because of this new legislation. Might not be practical though 😳🤣😳 Edited October 14, 2022 by OThomas Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RayD28 Posted October 14, 2022 Share #18 Posted October 14, 2022 I just can't see Leica squeezing out independent repair shops for manual cameras unless they beef up repair staff and train them how to fix them. I believe it would be an unprofitable nightmare. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Huss Posted October 14, 2022 Share #19 Posted October 14, 2022 9 hours ago, 250swb said: Perhaps Leica are simply seeing cameras arrive in their service department that need to be rectified after a CLA by an incompetent repairer? Is it worth their reputation selling parts to unqualified people? People go on about 'Leica quality' and then moan when they try to maintain it in the aftermarket. It's a difficult balancing act, there are many companies that like to treat their customers as a 'family', but that then means they get locked into higher costs long term through manufacturer servicing and parts. But if the story is true I think it may be just a case of 'whoa, this is getting out of control'. Ahaha! Good one! We have seen so many new Leica products shipped with that cute Quality Assured signed card that are defective straight out of the box. 3 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
250swb Posted October 15, 2022 Share #20 Posted October 15, 2022 14 hours ago, Huss said: Ahaha! Good one! We have seen so many new Leica products shipped with that cute Quality Assured signed card that are defective straight out of the box. Not to forget that in the thousands and thousands shipped if one is (genuinely) defective you get to hear about it here. It's fortunate that all the people who have a fully operational camera (still many, many thousands) don't all report in with that fact here as well, or the forum could get very, very boring. If you want to think you can simply multiply up the few reports of dodgy cameras the forum gets into an epidemic you are wrong, exceptions do not make the rule 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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