Disappointment of Buying my first M11 for Father’s Day

[crons]

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4 hours ago, Avatar said:

The refund policy is clear from Leica. I doubt any store would not take back a newly sold camera that is defective.

Although the OP's post reads well and sounds legit, it also reads like fiction.

This is a risky strategy. If you're at the store check everything at the store. If I take something home and then come back you're supposed to believe me that it was DOA. Once you take it home I dont know what you did to it. 

I don't know what the problem is. Youre at the store. Check your items before you leave. It's not difficult. 

2 hours ago, 250swb said:

I should point out to you that new Leica equipment is (supposedly) tested in the factory so the dealer doesn't have to do it. Very, very few dealers have a technical workshop that can deal with anything more than minor adjustments.

Firstly I never said the dealer is going to fix anything. If it's DOA then they'll get you another one right there at the store. No need to convince someone that it was like that when you took it out at home. You're right there. 

Secondly, every electronic device is checked at the manufacturer before packaging. It does happen that electronic devices arrive DOA. It has happened to every consumer electronic device ever built. A small percentage of them will arrive DOA. You ask how can that happen after it is checked at the manufacturer? I can list the reasons for you.

Generally speaking

1) shipping and handling damage. 

2) manufacturing defects that show after the initial check up after the device has been exposed to certain conditions. 

3) component failures that fail after initial checks. These are related to defects in a conponent that wasn't detected during the initial check before being packaged. 

4) ESD during handling or unpacking. 

5) human error or mistakes made during the final assembly that go unnoticed until it reaches the customer. 

Any of these things can happen even after rigurous QC by any manufacturer. 

[andybarton]

It's interesting that the OP, who had such a problem with his camera and accepting a replacement which should have arrived the next working day, hasn't posted since the first post.

[LocalHero1953]

Some dealers open and check items before the customer takes them away. Some don’t. Some people want to check everything in the store. Others would rather take it home and do the unboxing and checking themselves there. Some people throw away boxes. Others keep them in pristine condition. Some people count their socks and lay them out on the drawer in pairs. Others just throw them in. 

Why does it take so much testosterone to understand that people and business practices are different?

[SrMi]

10 minutes ago, andybarton said:

It's interesting that the OP, who had such a problem with his camera and accepting a replacement which should have arrived the next working day, hasn't posted since the first post.

He is probably enjoying his new M11P too much 😁.

[earleygallery]

13 hours ago, 250swb said:

Or just advocate for reliable cameras. Why should anybody have to stand in the store 'testing' everything and a clearly unreasonable expectation. I've never tested a new Leica in store just as I've never tested a washing machine in store or learned anything by revving a car up in the showroom.

 

 

But you probably try on a pair of shoes or a jacket before buying …

[andybarton]

1 hour ago, LocalHero1953 said:

Some dealers open and check items before the customer takes them away.

When I bought my new ALC MP for my 50th birthday present, my dealer told his staff not to open the box and check the camera when it arrived from Solms as he was sure that I would want to have that pleasure of the "first opening" myself. 

I opened it on his counter and had a play with it to make sure it was all in order. When it developed a rangefinder fault a couple of months later, he expedited an identical replacement for me and even had "someone very, very senior in Germany" personally check it before it got shipped to him.

This is good service, especially since I am not one of his best customers by any strhetch of the imagination, but I had developed a good relationship with him.

As far as I know, it's still working perfectly.

[250swb]

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1 hour ago, earleygallery said:

But you probably try on a pair of shoes or a jacket before buying …

Far fewer times than you may imagine given the revolution of the returns label combined with a local Post Office. My next Leica will be bought mail order because the adrenalin and pandering of the in-store consumer experience is lost on me, 'just give it to me and let me leave' is my motto. Checking everything in-store is for the birds, I know what a camera looks like, I checked what it comes with.   

[LocalHero1953]

I know a number of people who don't buy clothes or shoes in shops, just online - and return them for free if they don't fit.

As for the store opening the camera to check it, that will identify a DoA item, but it will not detect scratching backplates, intermittently corrupted files, random freezes etc [insert your Leica failure mode of choice here]. 

[NigelG]

Distance Selling regulations are your friend (at least in the UK)

Buy online and then collect in store, test the item there if you want, but since you bought the item “at a distance” you have 14 days from when you made the payment to reject the item and get a complete refund - no ifs or buts or maybes…

[LocalHero1953]

2 hours ago, andybarton said:

It's interesting that the OP, who had such a problem with his camera and accepting a replacement which should have arrived the next working day, hasn't posted since the first post.

The longer a thread like this, started as a first post by a new member, runs without the OP responding, the more I suspect they have achieved their purpose. Another dubious failure that will remain in the lore of Leica failures. 

[colint544]

8 hours ago, andybarton said:

It's interesting that the OP, who had such a problem with his camera and accepting a replacement which should have arrived the next working day, hasn't posted since the first post.

But what a nice guy to buy his dad an M11 for father's day.

[maitoparta]

On 6/17/2024 at 8:37 PM, earleygallery said:

I guess there was nothing to stop the OP opening the box and checking the camera in the store either.

As said Leica customers can be very particular about wanting to be the first person to open the box, or not open it ever! If a dealer opens it first they probably have to sell it at a discount!

Haha! I have that "I must be the first person to open the box" syndrome.

To the OP: I feel you. When I got my M10-R I at first thought it does not work, since it did not. I recharged the battery more and it started working 😮 Go figure, but I can tell you I was mad 🤣

[Rollei35]

On 6/20/2024 at 6:16 AM, LocalHero1953 said:

Some dealers open and check items before the customer takes them away. Some don’t. Some people want to check everything in the store. Others would rather take it home and do the unboxing and checking themselves there. Some people throw away boxes. Others keep them in pristine condition. Some people count their socks and lay them out on the drawer in pairs. Others just throw them in. 

Why does it take so much testosterone to understand that people and business practices are different?

This should be a "diversity, inclusivity" training material