[Leica] The death of quality and support. Was: HELP WITH M6 TTL

[tedgrant at shaw.ca (Ted Grant)]

Adam offered:  very interesting points in today's electronic new world.

>>>>As I read both his original
> posting (abstracted above) and his note to me I realized what he's really
> responding to - and it resonates: no one gives quality support any more,
you
> don't even remember what it's like, so you have to go to some community of
> people who know in order to find out answers.<<<

Adam,
I'm not going to copy your complete post, however you gave the M6TTL
question a new meaning for the owner that I had not considered. Taking it
back for support that unfortunately in many cases does not exist in the
world of today. :-(

Where my comments related basically to the "good old days" of a shop keeper
having well trained and knowledgeable staff, when a glitch occurred you took
the camera back and it was replaced immediately. Unfortunately in today's
world it's rarely found and as you pointed out, we as consumers, rely more
and more on our "computer families" to answer and advise on innumerable
things.

So in this vein I did jump a tad too hard on the leica M6TTL owner and once
again I offered an apology and hopefully he has been able to receive a free
replacement or repair service..

>>I hate to shop at Circuit
> City. BUT...this past fall I moved a Sony TV under their extended warranty
down
> to my place in Arizona. I turned it on - it went "poof" - and died. So I
called
> Circuit City. They had a repair agent come and get the TV. When they
couldn't
> get a part to fix it I got a voucher for the NEW price of the TV so I
could go
> to the store and buy a new one and have it delivered. Think I'll buy my
next
> major TV at Circuit City and use their extended warranty? You betcha.<<<<<

I will not return to any store where they give you the BS line of every
excuse they can about not taking responsibility for anything that goes
wrong.
Then as often as I can after, I tell everyone I know what bad service and a
lousy
store it is. Sooner or later I hope enough people will get the message and
the shop will begin to suffer.

However, like you and Circuit City with the service they gave you, man I
praise any company like that every opportunity and when I require a product
they carry that's the company I returned to first and foremost.

ted





 <abridge@dcn.org>
To: "Leica Users Group" <lug@leica-users.org>
Sent: Monday, May 17, 2004 1:14 PM
Subject: [Leica] The death of quality and support. Was: HELP WITH M6 TTL


> On 5/17/04 <tedgrant@shaw.ca (Ted Grant)> thoughtfully wrote:
>
> >
> >Certainly that would have been the way it was before the internet,
problem
> >solved and surprise of surprises ... "you fixed the problem all by
yourself."
> >Now for heaven sake people have to ask the internet world about every
> >conceivable situation. Doesn't anyone think for themselves anymore?
> >
>
> Ted and I have had a brief interchange off-line. >
> This has been growing for some time but most especially since the advent
of
> commodity personal computers. These devices, which really NEED support,
don't
> provide it and they market support that should be included with the
product.
>
> Attempting to return anything to these outfits, or their resellers, is
such a
> difficult and ugly business that trying to figure out the answer on  your
own,
> or with some help from on-line friends. Unless you're a Fortune 500
company and
> order in pallet-loads, the chances of getting quality software or hardware
> support approaches the vanishing point.
>
> Back when I was out of college I owned and ran a software firm which had a
> software product that did graphics. This was for DEC PDP-11 computers and
for
> small VAXen. We sold our product and we figured that we had an obligation
to our
> customers to both make sure our software did what they wanted it to, but
that it
> WORKED, so they could call us up and get some serious help. Sometimes we
helped
> them, sometimes they found a bug in our program and we quickly fixed it
and sent
> out replacements.
>
> This was the NORM in the industry.
>
> Then computers became commodities and any notion of support was thrust
first on
> the local reseller and then on user communities and FAQ lists when the
reseller
> couldn't make enough to even care any more - heck they only made
$50/sale - what
> sort of support can you give for $50?
>
> In the United States, at least, that has translated into a profound
reliance on
> self-help, and communities who help each other. So it's no wonder that
someone
> who has forked over $1500 or $1800 for a camera wouldn't think to take it
back
> to the dealer, or even CALL the dealer: who would possibly expect to be
> supported? The expectation is that you'll get some rude help line person
who
> won't have ever seen a Leica and will probably write in the on-line
database:
> Like-a.
>
> The number of times I have had good service are SO small that when I get
good
> service I go back to the same place time and again. >
> I have all my photofinishing done at a store in Sacramento because once
last
> summer they called me and asked me to check my R8 - they saw scratches on
the
> film and were worried it was from my camera. And they were right - there
was
> some dust there that should have been blown out. So I go back: they care.
>
> Oh well, rant over, now back to your normal webcast.
>
> Adam
>
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