Leica repair

Hi all,

Just a little “good news” story. I know that binocular/scope/camera repair is discussed at length on this forum – usually from the point of view of how bad the service, repair or warranty was. My story is somewhat different.

I bought my Leica Trinovid 8x42BN binoculars from a web-based supplier in the US a few years back (it wasn’t Adorama or BH – I actually can’t remember the supplier). During our Big (Victorian) Year in 2010 they were knocked off the picnic table that were having dinner at in Barmah National Park (fortunately the beer survived). After that I noticed that they were somewhat stiff to focus and had a slight “click” when focussing towards infinity. Nonetheless, they were perfectly usable and continued to give me good service until this year – fortunately after we returned from the US, and not before or during. Something I had been noticing however was that the required diopter adjustment was gradually becoming greater and greater – I had assumed that my eyes were getting worse over time, and that one eye was considerably worse than the other. In late August, I was using my binoculars when I noticed that the left barrel would no longer focus to infinity, and the binoculars were now effectively useless.

I took the binoculars into Camera Clinic in Melbourne to have them looked at and repaired. Unfortunately the binocular technician was on leave for that week and even when he returned he had a backlog of work before he got to mine. Since I had a pelagic the weekend following I had to have binoculars, so I bought a pair of Nikon Monarchs from a local dealer. The dealer tried to sell me a pair of Swarovskis, but I told him that I had a pair of Leicas in for repair. He was somewhat unflattering about the level of service I should expect from Camera Clinic, Adeal and Leica. Interestingly with the Nikons I found that the diopter adjustment needed to be on zero – so my eyes were perfectly the same after all, and the gradual change in the Leicas was obviously a slowly occurring fault!

The following week I received a call from Camera Clinic telling me that the left focussing group movement was faulty and that the binoculars would need to go back to Leica for repair. For that to occur I needed to pay a non-refundable inspection fee and shipping to Leica in Germany of about $260. Ouch! I asked Camera Clinic what they estimated the repair cost to be – and they couldn’t really give me an answer. After umming and ahhing for a few days – trying to decide whether it was worth the money to have Leica repair the binoculars or whether I would be better off buying a new pair. Ultimately I decided to go with sending them to Leica, so I paid my $260.

Yesterday, after about eight weeks, I received a call from Camera Clinic. I was expecting the call to be about how much money I would have to spend to have my binoculars repaired, instead the call started out quite differently. The girl on the other end of the call said, “I have some good news for you”. and then she went on to explain that Leica had decided to repair my binoculars under warranty, free of charge, as a gesture of goodwill! Not only that, but Leica had instructed Camera Clinic to refund the inspection fee and shipping! Not only that, but Leica had already done the work and my binoculars were now ready to be picked up at Camera Clinic!

So today I picked up my newly repaired binoculars – and I must say, not only are they repaired, but they are completely refurbished. The rubber armour has been replaced, even the “Leica” logo and identifier has been replaced – as good as, if not better than new!

Thank you to all involved – but especially thank you Leica for such a generous act, and have it be known that I am now even more of a Leica advocate and don’t mind telling anyone and everyone that will listen!

Paul Dodd

Docklands, Victoria

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