Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2003/07/25

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Subject: RE: RE[Leica] Leica USA no longer selling repair parts
From: "Chandos Michael Brown" <cmbrow@wm.edu>
Date: Fri, 25 Jul 2003 10:07:52 -0400

I know, Felix, but I don't possess sufficient resources to sustain two
high-end photographic systems.  This is something that I do because it
pleases me, not because I make money at it, and it comes at the cost of
other things.

My position is that Leica's policy accelerates, rather than retards, my
move to a DSLR, as gradually it strips away all the attributes that have
kept me loyal to the brand for this long.  I'm not going to stampede
into selling what now amounts to a very substantial Leica kit; I'm just
going to stop adding new Leica products to it.  

I don't want to have to send a camera to New Jersey to replace a
deformed rewind crank, when it takes me less than 5 minutes to remove
and replace or repair one. I'm perfectly willing to pay the $50 or
whatever they used to get for the part.  I won't deal with a company
that extorts money for what I see to be an absolutely unnecessary trip
to corporate headquarters.  I forgot to ask when I had Dave on the
phone, but I'm curious whether Leica will even sell a diopter (it does
take a tool to remove/replace the eyepiece)) without having to send the
bloody body to them to replace it for me.

Perhaps only a very small number of users undertake to mess around with
their gear, or possess ring wrenches, spanners, and the small tools even
to make this possible.  But Leica likes to claim that it's a "hands on"
sort of camera, and I think that in the past they've supported those of
us who take that claim seriously.  Now, it seems to me, one doesn't so
much buy as lease a Leica, because eventually one will have no control
over its disposition in the matter of repairs or customization.  I find
this unappealing in the extreme, and should one wish to rebut that these
policies are standard among other high-end lines, then I answer that
this merely gives me one less reason to look at Leica.

Chandos

 




Chandos Michael Brown
History and American Studies
College of William and Mary
www.wm.edu/cas/asp/faculty/brown


- -----Original Message-----
From: owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
[mailto:owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us] On Behalf Of Felix
Lopez de Maturana
Sent: Friday, July 25, 2003 9:34 AM
To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
Subject: RE[Leica] Leica USA no longer selling repair parts

>I am deeply pissed off. Screw Leica.  They've squandered 30 years worth
>of brand loyalty as far as I'm concerned.  I'm sitting here thinking:
if
>I go digital altogether, then I don't have to upgrade my scanner and
I'm
>already 2/3 of the way to a top DSLR system; quite frankly, I've always
>liked Canon.
>
>Chandos 

Chandos

If it's possible have both. They are complementary, Leica M and Canon
DSLR.

Felix

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