RE: [Leica] Re: Let's be realistic for a minute

[Austin Franklin <austin@darkroom.com>]

>>Quality control and customer service both cost money. Money spent on
those items comes off of the bottom line...a bottom line that Herr
Cohn is being paid to raise...not lower.

>>Quality control is 'always cheaper' when it is done by the consumer.

>This seems to have offended some of our fellow Lugnuts, but that doesn
> 't stop his observation being true - quality control costs, and good
> quality-control is expensive.

These are incredibly naive, and entirely short sited statements.  Anyone 
who knows how to (or anything about how to) run a successful business knows 
it does NOT cost more, overall, to do good quality control.  Especially on 
an item that has VERY limited market, and is VERY expensive.  It costs more 
to have mad customers (calling customer service all the time) and for Leica 
to have to have cameras sent back in for repair, repair them, and then to 
have them sent back to the customer.

It is only software (ie, Microsoft) that can get away with this kind of 
crap, and this will change soon.  Though Microsoft does not make a very 
quality product, their customer service IS top rate.  They are responsive, 
polite, and informed.  Also, you do not have to send your software back to 
fix a problem...