Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1997/08/29

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Subject: Re: What's Leica supposed to send Ted.
From: "shawnl@earthlink.net" <shawnl@earthlink.net>
Date: Fri, 29 Aug 1997 23:59:24 -0400

>
>Your comment is excellent, as the way it's been in here the past few days, it
>sounds like all the M cameras in the world are going to hell in a hand 
>basket!
>:) Which obviously isn't true.:)

Exactly.  And if you pick up any auto owner's survey in a car magazine, 
you'll see that there will be a given frequency of mechanical problems of 
a certain kind (air conditioning, radio, etc) even in cars 20x as 
expensive as a new M6.  That is just a fact of life common to all things 
mechanical.  They are put together and occasionally they fall back apart. 
 The amazing thing is that even with their deserved reputation as rugged 
cameras, the M cameras far outclass any of their electronic bretheren in 
terms of complexity and parts which can fall out of adjustment and break 
due to sheer usage.

In a perfect world, companies would take care of these problems as long 
as they crop up.  But the way I see it, Leica's USA warranty is quite 
generous and better than that of any other camera I own.  Pre-paid 
insurance policy or not, as some people call it (what else is a warranty, 
anyway, than part of my purchase price shunted aside to pay for a repair 
on someone else's camera?), Leica makes a good effort to make the first 
three years painless.  On the other hand, if what many people fear is 
true, that the frame counters of 75% of M6s are breaking in the first 5 
years of ownership, then Leica should bite the bullet and recall the 
cameras for a fix.  But if we're only talking 5 percent, that's barely 
more than bad luck, statistically speaking.