[Leica] Leica's Management of Customer Service/Repair, and its Brand [Long]

["Greg Bicket" <GBicket@email.msn.com>]

Francois,

I agree with you conceptually, but I think we as Leica consumers demonstrate
naivete in terms of how we handle our problems with Leica.

First, for better or worse, the default mode of relationship for camera
manufacturers around the world is through independent retailers.  As you
know, these retailers shops are populated, in some cases, by a few people
who really love and understand cameras and photography, surrounded by
people who have been  hired to fill out the forms on film processing
envelopes.  All the above deal with a variety of problems every day, and
without the careful keeping of return/repair problems may not even notice
that a particular product is having a higher failure rate than others.  From
what I have heard, the R8 problems affect a small percent of the R8's sold,
perhaps representing fewer problems than retailers experience with other
marques.

Which brings us to a second wrinkle, and that is we don't send our faulty
R8's to the president of the company, we send them, often through the
retailer who has dealt with a Nikminaxus point and shoot with a bad flash a
moment before, to the REPAIR department.  Now, while there is no question
that Leica's Repair department does tally records, has noticed and reported
to management a higher than normal number of R8 repairs, their charter is to
promptly identify, and resolve problems with equipment, and get it back to
the customer. While I was disappointed that my R8 needed service, I have
been extremely pleased with the results of their work.   It is the
integration of management into this process, and their intervention
regarding the handling of problems which addresses the greater issue you
have pointed out.

This is indeed a grave customer service problem.  But its origins are in
rushing the camera to market prematurely, now exacerbated by how some
service problems are being dealt with...Now it is a reputation problem.

I have suffered the possession by an assortment electronic gremlins of my
R8.  I sent it via Fedex directly to Leica Service, with a typed list of
problems, after receiving the name of a human being at Leica Service.  These
are tasks I did not feel I could rely upon my retailer to perform, for
reasons stated above.  I corresponded via email with that person throughout
the process, and a month [yes, too long by two weeks] later, I received the
perfectly functioning R8 I should have been sold in the first place.  Any
further problems with the camera will find it upon the desk of the President
of Leica.

My point is that the problems that are emerging are inherent in the
structure of distribution of camera hardware, and the service departments of
most camera companies are structured to address and resolve repairs at
whatever that company has determined is normal and acceptable.  This
structure serves well under normal circumstances, so the measure of Leica
now becomes whether or not it rises to meet this unusual circumstance.  This
recent R8 situation is an anomaly, and the normal channels of resolution are
failing to get some things fixed in an acceptable fashion.  Perhaps it is
this overload that caused Solms to return Alastair's R8 with problems
unfixed, I don't know.  But to have the loaner fail after two frames ought
to trigger an alarm that has all people at Leica, all hands on deck at
work until an airtight fix is in place, worldwide.

Leica has underestimated the lasting damage these prematurely released
R8's can do to its reputation.  Leica failed to recall the early cameras
which possess these electronic gremlins.  As the company's flagship SLR,
hoping this obvious reliability problem would go away, or not beefing up
repair to reduce turnaround time represents faulty decisionmaking at the
top.

This is shabby brand management, and perilous gambling with the
company's very future.

Early R8's should have all been recalled, the static sensitivity fix they
have worked out installed in every one of them, all this done at no charge,
and on a short turnaround timeframe.  And this should have been done in each
camera sold, even if percentage problems were only slightly greater than
normal.  We are talking about Leica, after all.

Alastair's ongoing headaches should have been resolved by the
provision of a new body, now, not while he waits a second time to see if the
repaired body comes back from Solms in "good working order."

Francois, I share your dissatisfaction regarding Leica's customer service
lethargy in the face of this R8 problem, and am aggravated for Alastair,
halfway around the world, now with a second body that will not take
pictures.  But I am more concerned about the future of a company, having
spent so many years building an asset like the Leica brand, and when faced
with a credibility-threatening situation, let its customers perceive it
tolerates excessive failure rates.  In terms of potential to damage image,
and erode credibility, this situation is enormous.  While not life
threatening, I believe it is a important to Leica's future as the Tylenol
scare of a few years ago, and a situation from which Leica management should
take lessons, in terms of assessing damage potential and responding to
critical situations.

This is a situation that Leica management should have anticipated, and
avoided.  Having failed that, they should have mobilized the entire company
towards quickly identifying, resolving, and extinguishing this problem.

Eight years of development clearly have not been sufficient.  Someone
determined that the risks in releasing the R8 in 1996 were outweighed by the
benefits of having this camera on the market.

When Leica  realized its error in premature release of the R8, it should
have actively sought the return of bodies to fix and return or replace, and
put in fail-safe safety nets to very quickly deal with any that missed the
recall/repair program.  Can you imagine how many would have been added to
the rolls of Leica-faithful in the process?  This situation, still lurking,
could be turned into an opportunity to bond the company together with a new
generation of loyal Leica users.  Expensive?  Hugely!  Lots less expensive
though, than the loss of customer loyalty and fidelity that will accrue if
Leica fails to respond to this issue.

As for me, my repaired R8 continues to function beautifully, in a variety of
environments, including Colorado's low humidity-high static conditions.  The
Leica USA service department has exorcised every problem from my camera, and
LUGgers, an R8 which functions as it was designed is a joy to hold, use,
make photographs with, and as I am slowly learning, rely upon.  I must admit
stories like Alastair's certainly erode the joys of ownership.  I just hope
they get it right.  I hope there's a company around to astound me with
an R8.2, R9, R10,etc., and what the hell, M7, 8 and on, for people to use
and take pleasure in making photographs.

Enjoy the light!

Greg Bicket