Re: [Leica] Leica Users digest V9 #3

["B. D. Colen" <bdcolen@earthlink.net>]

At 10:46 AM 5/25/99 +0000, you wrote:
>>Hi, a camera dealer who we all know recently told me that the "demo"
>>bodies another dealer we all know sells are actually the refurbished or
>>repaired bodies that Leica doesn't return to the original buyer (sending
>>the buyer a replacement instead). I'm concerned about this considering I
>>recently bought a "demo" R6.2 and R8, of which the R8 went in for
>>warranty repair a little over a week after receiving it. The dealer said
>>I've essentially bought someone else's problem camera. 
>
>Dave,
>
>Like you I thought "DEMO" meant a camera that was a "trade circuit" 
>camera; however after continuous problems with my R8 I discovered in a 
>phone conversation with Leica in NJ that it is indeed a camera that was 
>returned under warranty and replaced to the original owner.  Leica then 
>"fixes" the problem camera and sells it as a demo.
>
>My demo could never seem to get repaired correctly, kept sending it back 
>after having it in my hands for only a few weeks it would break again.  
>After its third trip to Leica I insisted they replace the damn thing then 
>immediately sold it and all of my Leica SLR stuff and went back to a 
>system that has never let me down in the field...Canon.  
>
>IMHO labeling a defective camera that has been "repaired" as DEMO is 
>unethical, may not be illegal, but it left a very bad impression of Leica 
>with me.
>
>Harrison McClary

I'm not a lawyer, nor do I play one on TV - However, I think this practice
may well be illegal. "Demo" is generally understood to mean that the camera
or other product in question has never been sold, but has been used to
demonstrate the product - either in the store, at shows, etc. What Leica
seems to be doing is taking defective, used - by any definition -
equipment, and selling it, not as "refurbished," which is how it should be
described, but as "demo" equipment, which it is not. 

Olympus, by way of contrast, has a program to sell "refurbished" equipment
as just that...it's steeply discounted and is described as factory
refurbished and guaranteed...

If Leica really wants to survive and compete into the new millennium, it's
going to have to be straight with the customers who fork over thousands of
dollars for what they think is new equipment, or equipment that's been "dry
fired" in a dealer's store.

I know someone is going to fire back the typical "Leicait or leave" it
response...but this, rather than blather about UV filters and which lens is
microscopically sharper than the next, is a really important consumer issue...