Mark Pope Posted July 23, 2009 Share #1 Posted July 23, 2009 Advertisement (gone after registration) After having sold my darkroom, I finally got enough money together to buy myself an ex-demo 18mm Super Elmar lens from Ffordes in Scotland. The lens duly arrived and when I tested it I could see that it wasn't right. Even looking at the images on the LCD of M8, it was obvious that they were soft The lens wasn't focusing at all. I tried it on two bodies and once I had convinced myself that it wasn't me having a 'Senior Moment', picked up the phone to call Ffordes. I explained the problem and they were somewhat surprised, saying that all ex-demo kit is tested by Leica before it's sent out to the dealers. They also said that this was the second time that they had had problems with ex-demo gear (I wonder whether the first was my black M8 with a vertical line problem that was mentioned in a previous post). Anyway the lens was posted back to Ffordes on Thursday. In the mean time, I had a look on the web and found that another UK dealer had a new example of the 18mm for about £20 more than I paid for the ex-demo lens. When Ffordes rang me back to say that they had received and checked the lens and that it was exactly as I described, they offered a refund which I would have been happy to take, but I mentioned that I had seen the new lens and the price. They then said they would speak to the Leica rep to see if they could match the price. A little while later, I had another call saying a brand new lens was in the post and it arrived 1st thing on Tuesday morning. There was no need to pay the difference in cost as they hadn't refunded me my postage. So I ended up with a brand new lens for the same price as an ex-demo version - so I am a very happy bunny. Once again, the customer service from Ffordes has been fantastic. I am however, very disappointed about Leica's quality control. If, as Ffordes say,this lens had been tested, then it should have been very obvious that there was a problem with it. Pull your socks up Leica! It's not fair on the customers and it's not fair on the dealers. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted July 23, 2009 Posted July 23, 2009 Hi Mark Pope, Take a look here In praise of Ffordes (again) and a rant about quality control. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
wattsy Posted July 23, 2009 Share #2 Posted July 23, 2009 Serves you right - I tried to buy that lens from Ffordes (after thinking about it for a week) only to be told that somebody had rang up and bought it half an hour earlier. Mark, would you mind dropping me a PM regarding the dealer selling the lens for twenty quid more than the ex-demo price. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
marknorton Posted July 23, 2009 Share #3 Posted July 23, 2009 Hah, I almost went for that lens as well, £1699 wasn't it? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Pope Posted July 23, 2009 Author Share #4 Posted July 23, 2009 Serves you right - I tried to buy that lens from Ffordes (after thinking about it for a week) only to be told that somebody had rang up and bought it half an hour earlier. Mark, would you mind dropping me a PM regarding the dealer selling the lens for twenty quid more than the ex-demo price. PM sent... Cheers Mark Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Pope Posted July 23, 2009 Author Share #5 Posted July 23, 2009 Hah, I almost went for that lens as well, £1699 wasn't it? Yep, that's the one Mark. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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