Re: [Leica] Leitz NJ- poor service

[S Dimitrov <sld@earthlink.net>]

Don

I'm amazed at your experience. Mine seems different from yours. I had a 90mm tele-elmarit that took a year and four months to repair a focus problem, apparently it had to get "back to the end of
the production line."
Another time, a 28mm elmarit, you know one of those dogs below #3mil, had a separated rear element, so I was told, it took almost 1/2 a year to repair. It gets better, when I took the 28mm to a
west coast facility for a check up as it was under warranty, you know, that wonderful let an elephant sit on it and we'll repair or replace for free thing. Well I get a call from my wonderful
repair individual that he cant fix the separation and that I have to send it to Leitz, NJ. Except for one thing, my warranty has by now expired and Leitz says tough luck, and I'm charged the usual
rate.
The last one was nearly as good, This time I'm assaulted while on a shoot by an irate factory owner trashing my SL beyond Leitz's ability to repair and warping my 'cron's mount. I call leitz to
stress the urgency of my 35mm 'cron being repaired in a timely, shall I say west coast manner, when somebody finally answers the phone I get no guarantee. I even tell them I can fax a copy of my
press credentials to show them I work with their gear, nothing doing. I'm left out to dry and referred to another office.
This one really tears me up. I can fill out some paper work, according to this office, and be placed in their computer, but it won't affect the return speed of my gear. The funny thing, I had to
give a credit card number for that service, naturally I declined. The only thing I was asking for was for a little bit of professional courtesy.
Besides that herculean sloth of a service dept. I'm happy with the gear. My bokeh rings true, as long as it doesn't need a repair.

Slobodan Dimitrov


Don Lindich wrote:

> I am thoroughly disgusted with Leitz NJ... by far the worst customer service I have experienced.  Phone calls are not returned, I was transferred around ad nauseum, and when I got in touch with
> their "technical rep" I found him to be an idiot with an attitude.  I still don't have an answer to my question:  How does my Minilux control exposure with flash?  "Very well!" was the answer I
> got.  Duh.  I wanted to know if it used flash cut off, changed aperture according to distance, etc, especially since it always shows f/2.4 when using flash.  When posed differently, I got a
> bunch of guesses and it was suggested that I figure it out myself, or that it doesn't matter.  So much for having control of your camera.  I was under the impression the "tech rep" had very
> little knowledge of photography, or Leica products.  Not what I expected from such a photographically "legendary" company.  I emailed Germany in desperation and I they forwarded it to the US
> without helping me... I got an email from the US distributor telling me to contact the original "technical rep".  Thanks a lot for the great service... you really balue your customers...
>
> Given the premium prices of the products and the apparently expensive and slow service, I don't think I'll be picking up an M6 outfit after all.  The Minilux was intended to give me a "taste" of
> Leica before commiting the big bucks and by all accounts (and what I have seen from others) the results from it are fabulous.  (Still waiting for my first rolls to come back.)  So far the only
> taste I have gotten is a bad taste in my mouth!