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Outstanding Customer Service from Leica (1 Viewer)

Drumming Sniper

Drumming Sniper

You'm not from 'round 'ere, boy!
The title says it all, really.

On Monday I posted my APO-Televid 62 off to Leica in Milton Keynes. The 'scope had sustained damage to the lens hood and the objective coatings so I included a covering letter asking Leica to quote for the necessary repairs.

Yesterday I received a letter confirming that the 'scope had arrived in Milton Keynes and this morning I received an email informing me that the repairs had been carried out free of charge (under Leica's new goodwill policy) and that it was on its way back to me.

The 'scope arrived twenty minutes ago and looks as good as new. The lens hood has been replaced and the objective looks new, too. Undoubtedly the best customer service I've ever received from any company.

Thanks, Leica!

DS
 
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Great news, DS. It's really good to hear that Leica are now attempting to match Swarovski's legendary after sales service. I believe we have a member of Leica, Milton Keynes repair staff on the forum, so I would like to say "well done and keep up the good work".

Ron
 
NoSpringChicken said:
Great news, DS. It's really good to hear that Leica are now attempting to match Swarovski's legendary after sales service. I believe we have a member of Leica, Milton Keynes repair staff on the forum, so I would like to say "well done and keep up the good work".

Ron
Click to expand...

Yes, the speed of the turnaround was truly amazing! I nipped into our local branch of LCE at lunchtime and ordered a 62mm Hoya filter for my now 'as new' telescope. I'll be treating it like a baby from now on!

DS
 
Makes me want to buy a Leica spotting scope. I wonder how Leica USA compares these days. I had an experience with them about 8 years ago that was pretty amazing.

I had a pair of Leitz 10x25 Trinovids which had the little ring that held the neck cord to the eyecup break. It was like that for several years and I didn't care too much as I found an even more satisfactory work-around. Anyway, one day I called up Leica (New Jersey) to see if I could buy another eyecup. I was told they no longer had that part but that they would give me full retail credit based on 2002 10x25 Trinovids and that I could apply it to any Leica bin I wanted. This came to (I think $475.) with which I applied that to a pair of 8x32 Trinovid BNs and the balance was a little over $500.

Considering I had paid $220. for them in 1982 and had used the hell out of them for 20 years, I thought this rather generous!

I do hear some mixed reviews here and there but my experience with both their products and their customer service is outstanding.
 
That really is good service indeed. You may even say that it is going over and above.

I wonder how much your calm attitude and your willingness straight away to pay for the damage had in the great service?
 
Sleeper said:
I wonder how much your calm attitude and your willingness straight away to pay for the damage had in the great service?
Click to expand...

Hard to say, really. All I know is that I was totally blown away by the level of service I received. The scope now has a protective Hoya filter firmly attached and is back to its pint-sized best! :t:

DS
 
More great service from Leica

This is not a one off. I received my APO-televid 77 back from Leica today fully repaired free of charge.

I sent it off to Milton Keynes 4 weeks ago with a chip in the objective, extensive damage to the lens coating and a broken 20-60 zoom. They sent it to Germany where the objective has been replaced, the housing replaced, all optics cleaned and adjusted. They claim also to have repaired the eyepeice, although it looks like a new eyepeice to me (with new serial number).

I shudder to think how much this would have cost if they had chosen to charge, as many companies may perhaps have done.

Thanks Leica, I'm off now to test it out with some wader watching, then I'll also be looking for a protective filter to keep it safe in future.
 
I had to send my APO Televid 77 back to Germany via Viking Optical to have the focus repaired. It was also back after 4 weeks as good as new having been thoroughly cleaned, eye-piece and all, various worn bits replaced and with a new set of lens caps - all at no charge. Many thanks to Leica for a job well done and to Viking Optical for handling it all for me.

Rob

Random said:
This is not a one off. I received my APO-televid 77 back from Leica today fully repaired free of charge.

I sent it off to Milton Keynes 4 weeks ago with a chip in the objective, extensive damage to the lens coating and a broken 20-60 zoom. They sent it to Germany where the objective has been replaced, the housing replaced, all optics cleaned and adjusted. They claim also to have repaired the eyepeice, although it looks like a new eyepeice to me (with new serial number).

I shudder to think how much this would have cost if they had chosen to charge, as many companies may perhaps have done.

Thanks Leica, I'm off now to test it out with some wader watching, then I'll also be looking for a protective filter to keep it safe in future.
Click to expand...
 
Regretfully, I seem to have had a raw deal from Leica regarding my APO77.After e-mail communication with Leica who said they would repair my `scope( coating coming off the objective lens and dodgy focusing wheel), I sent off my `scope.After a few weeks it was returned with a note stating that they won`t repair it as "a third party repair had taken place" and that some of the damage was " caused by an impact incident "which Leica do not repair.Well, as I bought the `scope new, I can vouch for the fact that NO third party repair has taken place and I haven`t dropped or hit the scope in any way.
I`ve e-mailed Leica explaining this and expressing my disappointment at their U-turn( not to mention the expensive postal charge), but up to now they have failed to reply to any of my three emails.I am extremely disappointed at this, even more so when I read the above posts were Leica have repaired similar `scopes.
 
snowcap said:
Regretfully, I seem to have had a raw deal from Leica regarding my APO77.After e-mail communication with Leica who said they would repair my `scope( coating coming off the objective lens and dodgy focusing wheel), I sent off my `scope.After a few weeks it was returned with a note stating that they won`t repair it as "a third party repair had taken place" and that some of the damage was " caused by an impact incident "which Leica do not repair.Well, as I bought the `scope new, I can vouch for the fact that NO third party repair has taken place and I haven`t dropped or hit the scope in any way.
I`ve e-mailed Leica explaining this and expressing my disappointment at their U-turn( not to mention the expensive postal charge), but up to now they have failed to reply to any of my three emails.I am extremely disappointed at this, even more so when I read the above posts were Leica have repaired similar `scopes.
Click to expand...

If you can be bothered, I'd suggest taking this further over the phone, where at least you know someone is listening to you, and you can press to speak to someone more senior (I wonder if some emails never get read!). Perhaps illustrating that you will describe their customer service on a widely read specialist internet forum might result in some change?!

It's this type of inconsistency in Leica's service that really puts me, and others I know, off buying their products. Clearly from the examples above they are sometimes really good... but when they're bad (as my Dad has encountered twice), they're horrid!
 
I too can only mirror comments regarding the excellent customer service I experianced when I took my APO 77 to the Milton Keynes site for repairs in 2006.

The scope had been damaged in India and needed the thread fixing that held the tripod plate to the scope.
 
Reassuring comments, I agonised over my decision before choosing to buy my Leica binoculars as they were so expensive but chose them as it is my intention to keep them for life and I wanted ones worth investing in. Been a bit scared to use them sometimes but find these comments comforting should they get damaged.
 
Reassuring indeed, Leica's good will policy sounds just what I am going to need. Went out this morning and found my scope (apo 62mm) very damaged (my kids are in for a grilling!!) The housing is cracked from the objective lens to the tripod mount, which means the whole objective lens unit comes away from the body!
Took the scope up to my local optics experts, who rang Leica for me. Apparently repairs are moving from Milton keynes to London so they are a bit disorganised at the moment, but they promised to ring me back.
Looks like the scope will have to go to Germany for repair, if they have any spare housings available.
If anyone from Leica is on here can they offer me any reassurance? I am concerned that repair may not prove possible.
Will keep posting to let you know how I get on.
 
NoSpringChicken said:
This link confirms that Leica will no longer have a servicing department in the UK and that all repairs will be carried out in Germany:

http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=173241

Garymh might see this thread and be able to give his view on whether your scope can be repaired.

Ron
Click to expand...

Thanks for that NSC, and here's hoping Gary has found something befitting his experience and ability. Such a shame when talented people are allowed to leave any industry.
 
No call forthcoming from Leica yet, so I gave them a call this afternoon, they said I would have to wait for them to call me back as they have a backlog of people to call..which I suppose is fair enough, given their move.
 
Don't forget that they will be attending BirdFair which will take up a lot of the reduced staff's precious time. As mentioned before, approach and attitude does make a possible difference to how they will respond - I do recall when working in the optics trade, of a customer who "tried it on" (lied!) with the company and they quite rightly stood their ground in that particular instance.
 
PYRTLE said:
Don't forget that they will be attending BirdFair which will take up a lot of the reduced staff's precious time. As mentioned before, approach and attitude does make a possible difference to how they will respond - I do recall when working in the optics trade, of a customer who "tried it on" (lied!) with the company and they quite rightly stood their ground in that particular instance.
Click to expand...

Fair point, no danger of me trying it on, the scope is damaged I honestly don't know how but it certainly looks like it has taken a knock. I am not meaning to badger them, just anxious to get an answer one way or the other so I can plan my next move as I have a trip to Norfolk next month.
 
Hi,

As you have probably noticed the housing is not metal and so could possibly have taken a knock and cracked. It should be a very simple repair - unscrew the objective lens mount, unscrew the broken tube, screw in a new tube, screw in the objective mount, adjust focus and fill with nitrogen. Milton keynes could have sorted it out in a day or two.

Unfortunately all the service staff (myself included) have been made redundant as Leica UK is concentrating activities around the London shop and none of the MK service staff were moved there. This also includes the service admin. staff who would normally have taken your call. All repairs , except minor jobs such as replacing eyecups and cleaning external optics, will now have to go to Germany.

I am now fortunately working for another German alpha optics manufacturer who appreciate the importance of UK based servicing facilities.

I will be at the Birdfair next week and would love to see those of you that know me.


Gary.
 
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