Leica Newsletter - Upgrade revamped

[MartinL]

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I have two questions:

 

1. The upgrade email states, "Also new is that you can commission the upgrades either through your Leica dealer or directly through the Leica Customer Service as of August 2008," How is this likely to work? Please explain the relevant difference here between "Leica dealer" and "Authorized Repair Center." The Leica website provides a confirmed link only to the New Jersey facility.

 

2. I'm paranoid about shipping cameras and computers, and I tend to over-pack. I'd be willing to purchase (locally, Los Angeles, preferred) an "authorized," pre-paid shipping box into which I can place my original M8 box so I don't have to deal with the shipping hassle. Is this a viable idea for Leica (and/or whoever does the upgrade)?

 

(btw, I first posted this in wrong thread- - -deleted the message, but at last look, the thread remains. Sorry)

[tbarker13]

Personally, I like the new program much more than the old. I'd be much more inclined to get the shutter upgrade - don't really care about the glass. Now, I just want to see how they price this in different locales. If I get to subract out the 19 percent VAT, I can easily see this as something I'd do.

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[stunsworth]

Please explain the relevant difference here between "Leica dealer" and "Authorized Repair Center." The Leica website provides a confirmed link only to the New Jersey facility

 

Taking my situation in the UK I could either take the camera myself to a dealer - say Stephens in Manchester, or Wilkinsons in Preston - and they would forward the camera to Leica, or alternatively I could send the camera directly to Leica UK.

 

Stephens/Wilkinsons are the "Leica Dealer", Leica UK are the "Authorised Repair Centre".

 

If you're in another country and don't know who, or where, the "Authorised Repair Centre" is then it may be best to ask Leica for the details.

[Guest guy_mancuso]

Same here. Perhaps we should ask Guy Mancuso again?

 

Frankly it is not worth my time anymore and certainly not worth the poker sticks in my eye either. What most fail to realize no matter what warranty there is, there will be more upgrades later to keep pushing your warranty along. I think breaking this up makes more sense but not reading the new upgrade path in detail yet or talking to Leica about it, you do lose some of the benefits of the earlier program. Honestly I have not been following anything here lately and not my concern on there every move here. I will just continue to work with what I have, nothing has changed one bit for me. The sky is still up there and just happy to be busy working like a dog and my gear is working just fine. For me it is what i deliver to my clients and how i get there is not there concern as long as it is great. Have a nice day.

[mhoersch]

Frankly it is not worth my time anymore and certainly not worth the poker sticks in my eye either.

 

Guy, sorry if I hurt your feelings! I most certainly didn't want to give you a poke in the eye and apologize if it looked that way!

 

What I wanted to express was my regret that Leica keeps communicating so vaguely. Thanks to your generous posts, many things have been cleared up in the past which Leica should have stated clearly in the first place. And now - here we go again trying to figure out what Leica might have meant...

[Dan States]

As we say in the UK...

 

"You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear"

 

Well, you CAN, but all your stuff will smell like pork rinds.

 

This is a much more reasonable pricing structure and it doesn't have that "Extended Warranty" smell.

[Guest guy_mancuso]

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No not at all Manfred not at all . My feelings are perfectly fine and your correct more communications that still has questions to it. Been down the road many times and figuring out what is actually MEANT is hard to come by. agree more questions to the pile although this one is a little simplier after just reading the whole thing. You do look like you have to pay for your own shipping as it looks like and also something i knew was it can be done besides in Solms. This was not public till just now but i was told about this at PMA in private. Two other things is pay as it is done or near completion before shipping back to you is a good thing instead of up front like before and warranty seems simplified you get 1 year no matter what after the service is done just like any other warranty service.

 

I do like the split too. The shutter alone is something i will probably do myself on at least one body and let's just hope my dollar is good at the time when i do it but that price is fair and reasonable in my book. The LCD sounds expensive but i am sure that is because the whole camera needs to be torn apart so more a labor expense.

 

Hopefully for Leica this will be good for them and let's hope for more upgrades and paths to improve our existing camera's. Firmware and stuff like that will always be free and improved so no worries there. Maybe a better plan but let's see how it goes. They need to work on service and i was told again in private this is a big push, let's hope so.

 

I would like a touch more clarification on the word extended warranty . From a US person POF that sounds like it is added at the time of the upgrade for 1 full year. Just like a service warranty is good for 90 days on a normal repair. I think this is what is meant by there wording

[fordfanjpn]

I would like a touch more clarification on the word extended warranty . From a US person POF that sounds like it is added at the time of the upgrade for 1 full year. Just like a service warranty is good for 90 days on a normal repair. I think this is what is meant by there wording

 

Well I'm a displaced US person, but that is not how I read it. To me "extending" the warranty by one year means adding an additional one year to the original two year warranty, so you end up with a total three year warranty from the date of purchase, regardless of when you have the upgrade performed. If the "extended" warranty ran concurrently with the existing warranty, it would be meaningless for anyone who still has a year or more left on their warranty. Leica needs to clarify this point.

 

Bill

[Guest guy_mancuso]

I agree Bill it does need to be clarified because you do have a very valid point there. I do think it is one year from the upgrade but I want leica to confirm this one way or another. Folks need to know this and be clear on it.

[psss]

i think the separate upgrades make more sense...i do want the glass, don't care much about the shutter...but probably won't pay that much just to not scratch the screen anyway...so nothing has changed for me at all....it will be interesting how the US prices will be....considering the dollar is at a historic low and will probably fall even more compared to the euro, i am not really planing to send either body in...

positive: no prepay (which was just a moronic idea anyway, especially with leica's service record..) upgrades can be done "locally"...so hopefully i can trust NJ by the time the program really starts...

i am with guy on this: right now, the gear just works for me...works perfectly...thanks to apple and aperture i can shoot tethered....fast and relyable...what i would REALLY want is SDHC card support...this simply HAS to happen, i don't think there will be any SD cards available next year....

 

in general: i hope the board room shake up will bring some calm into the company...which means: clear and simple 1-2 year strategies laid out for customers (this upgrade clarification seems a step in the right direction) and most important: fix service and support....we are buying leica because it stands for quality and a certain "lifelong philosophy" (for lack of a better term)....we don't need miracles or gimics...just solid workmanship and support that justifies a premium price....if leica can focus on these points, i don't see a problem....

 

do i want a full frame M8/9? of course! but not one with casts, stripes and unknown problems and freezes....especially if i cannot trust the service to be on top of things....

[dseelig]

Well i for one am a bit happier still overpriced but the important thing of getting the shutter changed and quieter is now a little better price wise.. If you use your amex card platinum class you get another years of waranty as amex adds a year when you use there premium cards, so you still get 2 years. At 1200 US for just the shutter I do not know if I will do this but there is more of a chance.

[Hakku]

In my opinion, the revised Upgrade schedule is somewhat better than the "Lee' version" (no front money, splitting Upgrade items etc.), however, still leaves room for improvements.

 

First, with splitting the Upgrade items and more Upgrades hopefully coming up later, there is the need to extract the cost portion for CLA from the prices for exchanged Upgrade parts and offer that as a separate item incl. a renewed warranty. This would make the programm more versatile and attractive, imho. If cost for round-up CLA stay in the prices of each Upgrade item, we'll pay double or more whenever we order combined Upgrades but get the revision made and the warranty only once.

 

Second, the latest Newsletter from Leica needs clarification as to what will happen to cams sent in for upgrading once the warranty period has ended? It now says, another year will be added to any running original warranty - and thereafter? This does not even mean that we may get still another year from more upgrades year after year (as Guy has suggested somewhere in this thread). Or does it mean that the warranty will only be extended to cams still under (any) warranty, but not be renewed for at least one year, although round-up CLA is paid for in the Upgrade price?

 

I feel that the idea of a renewed two year warranty has been killed by the expection of too many "worn out" bodies (!) coming in for renewal at a given price, as would have been likely under Lee's version (Maybe, this killed his job,too)

 

After all, I consider the revised Upgrade programm as announced today a well-thoughtout price increase as long as the cost for complete CLA stays in each Upgrade item's price and no addidional renewed warranty is given.

 

Horst

[wlaidlaw]

For me the one year warranty extension is I think a killer. I like the idea of choice on the upgrades but my preferred option of only the sapphire glass, is just too expensive at €750 with a single year's extension on the warranty. I am hoping they may rethink this yet again, once they see the reaction to their proposal. If the original camera was capable of carrying a two year warranty, then what they are purporting as being close to a total refurbishment, should also be able to carry a two year warranty, if they are confident in their workmanship.

 

Wilson

[fotografr]

Aren't we in danger of missing a very important point here?? I vividly remember a number of disgruntled posters who repeatedy stated that Leica doesn't care about its customers or listen to their opinions.

 

Quite clearly that was incorrect, which sounds like very good news to me.

 

Pete.

 

Okay, which one of you wise guys suggested dropping the warranty extension from 2 years to 1 year???

[andybarton]

I would like a cosy feeling that the M8 is going to be around for a while before I pour money into it. I can always use the glass on my M6 but what about the M8 body?

 

Where is your M8 going?

[photogdave]

I would hope and expect that dealers, who I'm sure have more business sense than Leica at least at the moment, would discount the upgrade cost, that is, sacrifice some of their per-unit profit to score on volume.

 

 

Why on earth would a dealer want to LOSE money to send your camera back to Leica for you?

I think putting the dealers into the mix is going to add to the confusion. The idea of door-to-door service made the upgrade program more attractive.

[mikpeter]

since the upgrades are now upgradeable separately and the warranty is cut by half, would it be possible to have the upgrades upgraded separately as in shutter first and receive a 1 year warranty and then have the lcd upgrade done and receive another 1 year warranty for a total of 2 years???

[bishop666]

The upgrade has been revamped:

 

in short:

- upgrades are available as single options

- no downpayment/certificates needed

 

Prices:

from 1120,- EUR Shutter and Sapphire glass

from 750,- EUR Sapphire glass solo

from 800,- EUR Shutter solo

 

[update]

 

Just ONE additional year of warranty, prices include VAT and may vary because of regional influences.

Will be carried out in Germany as well as in auhtoirzed service centers around the world (USA, Japan, Hong Kong and Korea).

Order for the upgrade can be placed through vendors as well.

 

Dirk

 

As of today, the US equivalent cost for the sapphire glass upgrade would be $1137.90 ... whew, that's a lot of bucks for a thin piece of glass. Now, the shutter replacement cost is only $76.00 more than the glass ... where is the pricing logic????? Of course, these numbers include the VAT which a US purchaser may not be liable for, however, it seems (IMO) like a lot for a little.

[adan]

WHAT a bunch of crybabies! Unbe-eff-inglievable!

 

I'm still trying to find the paragraph that FORCES any M8 owner to submit to these upgrades unwillingly. If you don't want to pay the money you are free to move on.

 

If your point is that you WANT the upgrade but don't want to actually PAY for it - cry me a river. I'd love a Dom Perignon for $10 a bottle and a 28 f/2 ASPH for $1500 - but so what? I don't get on the Web and whine about it.

 

The shutter exchange now costs 33% less than it did under the old program - which makes it a real possibility for me.

 

The deal with the warranty is straightforward - if Leica cuts open your M8 for major elective surgery, they will warranty that surgery for a year, regardless of the state of your warranty before the surgery. It is a reduction from the original offer of 1 year - in length of warranty and in price.

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Hallo,

Look here: Leica M

[sdai]

The deal with the warranty is straightforward - if Leica cuts open your M8 for major elective surgery, they will warranty that surgery for a year, regardless of the state of your warranty before the surgery.

 

Now someone is really going to cry ... you mean the additional 1 year warranty only covers the sapphire glass and/or quiet shutter ... not the entire camera?