[Leica] Leica upgrade/repair service

[kididdoc at cox.net (Steve Barbour)]

On Aug 1, 2008, at 1:19 PM, Henning Wulff wrote:

> You may recall that about 2 months ago I was enquiring about the  
> best way to send expensive things to Solms for service.
>
> After reading the replies (thanks, all!) I bit the bullet and  
> shipped it via Canada Post Express, with less than full insurance.  
> Insurance agents here told me that they would sell me insurance, but  
> to expect problems in collecting on it. Soo... with trepidation I  
> sent off an M8, Noctilux, 28 Summicron, 21 Elmarit ASPH and 28-50  
> Tri Elmar.
>
> After the parcel had fallen off the Canadian tracking radar a few  
> days, I contacted Leica. They had not seen the parcel, but Herr  
> Jakob followed that up a day or two later stating that the parcel  
> had been sent to a neighbouring village and had taken a bit of a  
> vacation there.
>
> He sent me an estimate, including work for 'fixing' the Noctilux;  
> apparently the guides had worn and needed replacing/adjusting. I was  
> hesitant, but agreed. Less than 3 weeks later it was sent off back  
> to me. After 2 weeks enroute I was starting to get worried again,  
> but then got a call from Fedex saying they had a parcel that needed  
> Customs clearing, and did I want them to do it or did I have my own  
> broker. I enquired as to the stated value for Customs, and was told  
> that it was over 3500 Euros. As the work itself, and the amount I  
> paid was about a sixth of that, I told them I would clear it myself  
> and armed myself with as much paper as I could. I finally convinced  
> the Customs people that there had been a mistake in the labelling of  
> the value for Customs, and paid the 'proper' amount.
>
> Then I got my package. It was large, about 60cm x 60cm x 40cm. Lots  
> of bubbles. You could probably have dropped it from the plane  
> directly onto my driveway and the contents would have been fine.  
> Inside were the five items, each additionally wrapped and presented  
> in black velveteen bags.
>
> Two of the lenses had had new rear caps put on (the old ones were  
> included) and everything looked spotlessly clean. The Noctilux is  
> now slightly stiff, but that's to be expected with the new focussing  
> guides and lubrication.
>
> The M8 had had its viewfinder adjusted, and now worked perfectly  
> with the Noctilux. The Noctilux still works perfectly with the other  
> M8. Great! All lenses are properly coded an register as such with  
> the cameras.
>
> The M8 that had been sent in had had a gouge out of the rear plate  
> near the 'set' button, and the glass had been chipped near there and  
> had had a number of scratches. Both the rear cover glass and the  
> rear plastic plate, along with buttons, wheel etc. have been  
> replaced at no charge.
>
> All in all, an outstanding service job. Yes, it cost some money but  
> the quality of the work, communication and presentation were truly  
> first class. I've never had service work as good from Canon or Nikon  
> before that (nor Leica in the 60's or 70's).
>
> The only bad parts were the shipping in both directions. The strange  
> value for the return trip was apparently entered on the papers by  
> the third party shipping company Leica uses, as Leica's papers quite  
> clearly showed the true value. Herr Jakob told me that the 3500  
> Euros might have been entered for the total value of the shipment,  
> not the customs value but clearly the total value of the 5 items was  
> much higher than that.
>
> In any case, Leica's service was excellent. I haven't sent anything  
> to them for years (probably about 25) and only used third party, so  
> was very nervous after hearing various bad reports. I just thought  
> that I should balance that with a good report (which doesn't  
> ususally get written).

thanks Henning...

bravo to Leica...

what a relief this must have been...


Steve



>
>
>
> -- 
>   *            Henning J. Wulff
>  /|\      Wulff Photography & Design
> /###\   mailto:henningw@archiphoto.com
> |[ ]|     http://www.archiphoto.com
>
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