Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/03/08
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Ahhhhhhhh You are lucky to be able to test anything before buying. Here where I live things work as follows. Dealers do not keep stock (except one who has an M6 with 50 summicron and an R8 with no lenses). The agents do not keep stock. If you want a lens / body / filter / etc you order it from dealer / agents. They order it from england / Germany. The order means when it arrives (many weeks later) you pay your money and take your goods. If you don't like it, too bad. If it is faulty it might be replaced but Solms does not really want to know about it. The paperwork, shipping, etc will usually take months. Now, part of the problem down here in Africa there are, if you examine things carefully, only four countries in which there are importers recognised by Leica in Solms. And the sad thing is that Leica is not even sure where they are! This is why they have a nice little map on their web page which shows a red dot in South Africa and a red dot in Egypt, however their list on the referring web page lists agencies in Angola, Egypt, Kenya, and Mauritius. Now, what could the meaning of that red dot in South Africa be??!! (not to mention that Mauritius is an island off the coast of Africa). So, turning to the new Leica guarantee card I received with the dog of a 35mm Summicron Asph, I discover that Leica lists only one Leica service point in Africa, and that one is in South Africa!! So, you see it is not surprising that we have some problems in the Leica world. Somehow the teaching of Geography has obviously been dropped from the school sylabus in Germany. I wonder what else is no longer taught? Best wishes yours full of complaints on a rainy Sunday afternoon Harold - ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Visit my web site at: http://hgphoto.home.ml.org You can send a short text message to my cellphone by sending e-mail to 0837004303@sms.co.za. Please ensure that mail sent for this purpose is in plain text only. My e-mail addresses are as follows: haroldgess@journalist.com gess@icon.co.za Please use either of these to reach me and, lest you lose sight of it, have a nice day! - -----Original Message----- From: Pascal <cyberdog@ibm.net> To: Leica Users Group <leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us> Date: 08 March, 1998 2:08 PM Subject: [Leica] Testing a lens before buying it >At 01:25 AM 08-03-98 +0100, Alf wrote: >> >>Usually you go into a shop and test a lens before you buy it. >>Don't you have that possibility in the US ? >> >Not over here either! >The thing is: most dealers don't have Leica items in stock. Or, if they >have some items on display, they do not necessarily have the item you are >interested in. >Your only alternative is ordering an item, but then you're underwriting a >firm commitment to buy it. >This is one reason why it so difficult to buy Leica gear. >By the way, the Belgian Leica importer once told me that I could test any >item they have in stock at their premises (but even they do not have all >Leica items. Inventory is sparse, as I guess they mostly work on a "just >in time" basis. But that "just in time" seems sometimes like a rather >sick joke considering that you have to wait months for some items. I had >to wait no less than 4 months for a Leica monitor for slide projectors). > >Pascal > >-------------------------------------------------------- >t h i n k d i f f e r e n t a p p l e c o m p u t e r >-------------------------------------------------------- ><<< PGP public key available on request >>> >