Great Service from Leica – not!

Hi everyone My experience has been somewhat different. My Leica 8×32 BA binoculars (purchased from the Binocular & Telescope Shop (Bintel) in Sydney in 2001) were sent to the Camera Clinic (via Bintel) on 22 August because of two issues: the focus mechanism was stiff (the binoculars had been previously been sent to the Leica agent in Melbourne in 2004 and 2010 for this problem to be addressed, but it keeps recurring) and, secondly, there was a shift in dioptre when focusing. For the past 3 months there has been an ongoing saga relating to delays in parts arriving from Germany and then the discovery that the wrong parts had been sent (I don’t know where the responsibility for this lies). As I understand it, the Camera Clinic has not provided Bintel with any updates on the situation and it is only when Bintel ring them that further information is provided – and not very satisfactory information as you can see. I imagine that I would have had the binoculars back well before now if they had been sent directly to Germany. Today, I am told that a shipment of parts is expected by the end of the month (in 2 days time). It seems that Leica in Germany wait until they have a number of parts to ship, rather than send out individual items. This practice seems to have been the cause of long delays with respect to my binoculars on at least two occasions. I am wondering if I should be pressing for a complete replacement of the binoculars as I’m not sure that I can be confident that the repairs will be satisfactory – particularly in relation to the ongoing problem of stiffness in the focussing mechanism. It is just as well that I purchased a 2nd pair of binoculars (Nikon Monarchs) a couple of years ago or I would be even more irate than I am. Jenny Madeline From: “Allan Benson” <aejsbenson@bigpond.com.au > To: “Birding-Aus” <birding-aus@vicnet.net.au> Cc: colin.perkovic@leica-camera.com Subject: [Birding-Aus] Great Service from Leica Message-ID: <000501ceeb10$d1525100$73f6f300$@com.au> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=”US-ASCII” Hi All, My Leica Apo Televid 65 Telescope was knocked over when it was on the tripod. It fell onto rocks after a fall of the height of the tripod plus 0.5 metre. The fall smashed the mounting and damaged the eye piece. It was entirely my fault and in no way could be construed as a warranty claim. I could have lived with the damage to the eye piece but the scope was not usable until the mount was respired. After a bit of ringing around, I finally found the correct people. Camera Clinic 56 Easey St Collingwood (03)34195247. Camera Clinic provided a very courteous and efficient service. After inspecting the damaged scope, they informed me it would need to be returned to Germany for repair and would take 60-90 days. I had the scope back in about 4 weeks, as good as new and to my very pleasant surprise- no charge. Leicia had repaired the scope as a good will gesture. All in all what a great outcome. It is an interesting decision-making process buying high end optics. Considerations include perceived quality( all the high end optics will do a good job ), personal preference, how the optics “feel” and of course price and retailer service. After sales service probably doesn’t rate as highly because we all assume it won’t be required but as my experience has demonstrated maybe more weight should be given to this . My experience with both my Leica binoculars and scope have always been extremely positive in terms of quality of the optics etc. This good will gesture from Leica will ensure I stick with them in the future. Best regards Allan Benson =============================== To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line) to: birding-aus-request@vicnet.net.au http://birding-aus.org ===============================