[Leica] NOW.... Bad M8 & near smashing! :-)

[tedgrant at shaw.ca (tedgrant at shaw.ca)]

Larry Z offered:
>>> Of course you can always follow Dr. Ted's strategy. Call a press 
>>> conference.
> Equip yourself with a sledge hammer. And threaten to pound your offending
> Leica M8 into a pile of fragments while shouting "Leica cameras are pieces
> of crap" if Leica doesn't immediately supply you with a new model.
> It would be best if you did this on the steps of Fox News while ranting
> about the evils of importing shoddy foreign goods into the USA.<<<<<<

Frank Filippone RESPONDED:
Subject: Re: [Leica] Bad M8


> Interesting hypothesis.....
>
> So I get emotional satisfaction for a bad camera, at an expense of several
> thousand dollars......
>
> If I remember correctly, when this happened to Dr. Ted, the replaced 
> camera
> was also dead......  not a good precedent.
>
> Nah, I'll sell it on Ebay where they don't read this stuff.......
>
> Film for the weekend..... at least I know the images will be sharp.
>
> And with B+W film, I also know the colors will be right.....
>
> M6TTL, forever......Rah, Rah, Rah......


AND Dr. Ted offered in response:

1/ Leica gave me a new camera before it was necessary for me to smash the 
"crappy R4 they claimed 4 times it was fine and in perfect working order!" 
The breaking point was opening the supposed "perfect camera right out of the 
box exactly in the same identical problem!" KILL!!!!!!!! :-)

That was the final straw!!! So I called my buddies in the TV networks and 
newspapers and wire services offering I would smash the world's greatest 
camera to smithereens on the front steps of the Leica head office in Toronto 
at the time.

The management people when they saw the media mob waiting for the smashing 
immediately came up with a perfect brand new camera! I went happily on my 
way...... the media guys were all ticked off because nothing happened. :-) 
Leica people all gave a sigh of relief not having to see me smash the 
camera.

I've had folks ask me,  "Would you have really done it?" Absolutely and 
emphatically one answer.... YOU BET! INTO THE SMALLEST PIECES I COULD MAKE!" 
I had nothing to lose as that particular camera was as useless as a brick in 
a life jacket! Besides I had two other identical camera bodies that worked 
like a charm!

Frank said:
>>So I get emotional satisfaction for a bad camera, at an expense of several 
>>thousand dollars......<<<<<

Frank the emotional satisfaction would have been absolutely ecstatic 
regardless of dollars involved! I had become almost uncontrollable in my 
hatred for this particular camera and the complete staff of the Leica 
organization! Hell I was ready to kill anyone of them that came back to me 
with some BS story that it was OK, only to find it was just as bad as it was 
before and three times before that! :-(

And the new camera they gave me worked like a charm! No different than the 
other two bodies I had. They, all three were eventually traded in for R8's 
with motor drives!! Now that was an incredible LEICA product! :-) The best 
of the best! ;-)

cheers,
Dr. ted :-)