Leica APO77 Televid focusing problem (1 Viewer)

goldenorbs · Nov 7, 2010

I have a Leica APO 77 Televid scope which just recently has developed a focusing problem. Something has come loose inside the scope and is preventing the scope from focusing. I returned the scope to Leica for an estimate and they want £700 to repair it. I am a 77 year old pensioner and cannot afford this amount of money.
Does anyone know of any telescope repair firms where I could possibly get a cheaper estimate or repair.

goldenorbs

Musoman · Nov 7, 2010

You may have better luck posting this in the Digiscoping section, because this section is about Astronomy Scopes

I'm sure you could get some help though

Clive A · Nov 7, 2010

goldenorbs said:
I have a Leica APO 77 Televid scope which just recently has developed a focusing problem. Something has come loose inside the scope and is preventing the scope from focusing. I returned the scope to Leica for an estimate and they want £700 to repair it. I am a 77 year old pensioner and cannot afford this amount of money.
Does anyone know of any telescope repair firms where I could possibly get a cheaper estimate or repair.

goldenorbs

I am amazed, just had my 62 Televid repaired for free after it got accidentally damaged. Who have you contacted re your repair? Leica are supposed to be doing lots of repairs for free under their goodwill policy. When you say it has been returned to Leica, is that in the UK or Germany? £700 seems a rediculous charge.

postcardcv · Nov 7, 2010

I've moved this to the telescope section a you might get more response there...

black kite 1964 · Nov 7, 2010

goldenorbs said:
I have a Leica APO 77 Televid scope which just recently has developed a focusing problem. Something has come loose inside the scope and is preventing the scope from focusing. I returned the scope to Leica for an estimate and they want £700 to repair it. I am a 77 year old pensioner and cannot afford this amount of money.
Does anyone know of any telescope repair firms where I could possibly get a cheaper estimate or repair.

goldenorbs

The Leica focusing system is based around a plastic band - not what you expect from the Germans! I suspect it has worn and snapped? £700 is crazy for what is basically a design fault!!!

Send Leica a e-mail as see how you get on. Keep everybody posted!

goldenorbs · Nov 8, 2010

Clive A said:
I am amazed, just had my 62 Televid repaired for free after it got accidentally damaged. Who have you contacted re your repair? Leica are supposed to be doing lots of repairs for free under their goodwill policy. When you say it has been returned to Leica, is that in the UK or Germany? £700 seems a rediculous charge.

I returned it to London Camera exchange who sent it back to Leica UK for me and when I rang to enquire if they had received it back they told me it had been returned to Germany. They also chrged me £35 estimate charge which also covered the postage.

thanks goldenorbs

goldenorbs · Nov 8, 2010

re leica fofocusing problem

black kite 1964 said:
The Leica focusing system is based around a plastic band - not what you expect from the Germans! I suspect it has worn and snapped? £700 is crazy for what is basically a design fault!!!

Send Leica a e-mail as see how you get on. Keep everybody posted!

Thanks for the advice I will try that.

goldenorbs

garymh · Nov 9, 2010

I have never seen a Televid 77 with a broken focus band and I have repaired hundrds of them over the years. These bands are virtually indestructible.

What I suspect is that one of the 4 screws which attach the objective tube to the prism housing has come loose and fallen into the the focus mechanism - this is the usual culprit.

Look into the objective and you should see 4 cross-head screws about level with the tripod mount. If one is missing you have the problem.

Gary.

black kite 1964 · Nov 9, 2010

garymh said:
I have never seen a Televid 77 with a broken focus band and I have repaired hundrds of them over the years. These bands are virtually indestructible.

What I suspect is that one of the 4 screws which attach the objective tube to the prism housing has come loose and fallen into the the focus mechanism - this is the usual culprit.

Look into the objective and you should see 4 cross-head screws about level with the tripod mount. If one is missing you have the problem.

Gary.

It still does not cost £700 to fix!!

PYRTLE · Nov 9, 2010

Intriguing post, it originally commenced with an estimate of £700 from Leica, which was deemed too expensive - now its gone back (via LCE ) to Leica [Westlar?] .....

As Gary H states {having been the excellent Leica Camera UK engineer/technician for many years} what the fault is most likely to be, I would be very surprised that the repair is not done for a far more realistic price although you will have to pay any costs/ and postage incurred and levied upon you by LCE as your "handling agent".

I'm sure you won't be too out of pocket, but get your scope back in tip top condition.
Good luck

goldenorbs · Nov 9, 2010

Leica APO77 Televid

PYRTLE said:
Intriguing post, it originally commenced with an estimate of £700 from Leica, which was deemed too expensive - now its gone back (via LCE ) to Leica [Westlar?] .....

As Gary H states {having been the excellent Leica Camera UK engineer/technician for many years} what the fault is most likely to be, I would be very surprised that the repair is not done for a far more realistic price although you will have to pay any costs/ and postage incurred and levied upon you by LCE as your "handling agent".

I'm sure you won't be too out of pocket, but get your scope back in tip top condition.
Good luck

Hi
Sorry but you seem to have got the message a little bit wrong. The scope was returned in the first instance to LCE (London Camera Exchange) who charged me a £35 handling and estimate charge. They said they would return it to Leica UK.
After about three or four weeks I rang them to see where my scope was they said it had probably been returned to Germany. After another two or three weeks they phoned me to tell me the estimate from Leica was £700, which I declined as being too expensive. I am now going to contact Leica UK to see if I can get any satisfaction from them.
Thanks for your advice
goldenorbs

goldenorbs · Nov 9, 2010

Leica focusing problem

garymh said:
I have never seen a Televid 77 with a broken focus band and I have repaired hundrds of them over the years. These bands are virtually indestructible.

What I suspect is that one of the 4 screws which attach the objective tube to the prism housing has come loose and fallen into the the focus mechanism - this is the usual culprit.

Look into the objective and you should see 4 cross-head screws about level with the tripod mount. If one is missing you have the problem.

Gary.

thanks for the advice Gary
goldenorbs

Clive A · Nov 9, 2010

goldenorbs said:
Hi
Sorry but you seem to have got the message a little bit wrong. The scope was returned in the first instance to LCE (London Camera Exchange) who charged me a £35 handling and estimate charge. They said they would return it to Leica UK.
After about three or four weeks I rang them to see where my scope was they said it had probably been returned to Germany. After another two or three weeks they phoned me to tell me the estimate from Leica was £700, which I declined as being too expensive. I am now going to contact Leica UK to see if I can get any satisfaction from them.
Thanks for your advice
goldenorbs

What I don't understand is where is the consistency from Leica?
My scope was repaired for free, you are being quoted £700, what is going on?
I initially contacted Leica UK with my problem, and felt I was given the run around for 4 weeks. Garymh was very helpful, and suggested I contact Germany directly, which I did and was very thankful for their brilliant service.
I recommend you contact Germany yourself and tell them your story, you can e-mail a lady called Andrea Frankl here [email protected]

black kite 1964 · Nov 9, 2010

Clive A said:
What I don't understand is where is the consistency from Leica?
My scope was repaired for free, you are being quoted £700, what is going on?
I initially contacted Leica UK with my problem, and felt I was given the run around for 4 weeks. Garymh was very helpful, and suggested I contact Germany directly, which I did and was very thankful for their brilliant service.
I recommend you contact Germany yourself and tell them your story, you can e-mail a lady called Andrea Frankl here [email protected]

Would also suggest that you make leica aware that issues re service are being discussed. Post them the link to this forum.

Hope there is a happy ending to this story.

Regards.

Mark.

garymh · Nov 9, 2010

You may not get a lot of joy from Leica UK.

All their repairs now go to Germany as there is no-one left from the original service department in the UK.

Basically the UK dealers, in your case LCE, can only send repairs to Germany. Even if you send it to Leica UK it will again be sent to Germany. The only UK service centre for any Leica product is.............Germany !!!!!

Clive A · Nov 9, 2010

garymh said:
You may not get a lot of joy from Leica UK.

All their repairs now go to Germany as there is no-one left from the original service department in the UK.

Basically the UK dealers, in your case LCE, can only send repairs to Germany. Even if you send it to Leica UK it will again be sent to Germany. The only UK service centre for any Leica product is.............Germany !!!!!

Yes that is the fact, regretable, but still there should be some consistency. Frankly I do not trust Leica UK,the response I got from them was unprofessional, as soon as I involved Germany it was fine.

goldenorbs · Nov 19, 2010

Re Leica APO77 Televid focusing problem

Hi
Thanks to everybody who offered advice re my Post regarding the problem with my scope focusing.
I have sent E-Mails to both Leica UK and Leica Germany (2 E-Mails) to [email protected] but have had no replies to any of them
I am now at a loss as to what to do to get myscope repaired.
goldenorbs
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

black kite 1964 · Nov 19, 2010

goldenorbs said:
Hi
Thanks to everybody who offered advice re my Post regarding the problem with my scope focusing.
I have sent E-Mails to both Leica UK and Leica Germany (2 E-Mails) to [email protected] but have had no replies to any of them
I am now at a loss as to what to do to get myscope repaired.
goldenorbs
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

That really is pretty poor Leica!!! Would suggest you keep trying!!

It really does put me off ever buying anything made by Leica which is good news if you are the sales director of Swaro or Zeiss.

Do hope your next update is more positive.

Kevin Purcell · Nov 20, 2010

goldenorbs said:
Hi
Thanks to everybody who offered advice re my Post regarding the problem with my scope focusing.
I have sent E-Mails to both Leica UK and Leica Germany (2 E-Mails) to [email protected] but have had no replies to any of them
I am now at a loss as to what to do to get myscope repaired.
goldenorbs
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It could be no one is reading that account any more. If you can try another.

But writing a letter to Leica Germany might be the best idea.

Clive A · Nov 20, 2010

goldenorbs said:
Hi
Thanks to everybody who offered advice re my Post regarding the problem with my scope focusing.
I have sent E-Mails to both Leica UK and Leica Germany (2 E-Mails) to [email protected] but have had no replies to any of them
I am now at a loss as to what to do to get myscope repaired.
goldenorbs
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Only positive thing I can say, is that it did take Leica Germany a couple of weeks to respond to my original e-mail, so you may be in the system so to speak.

Leica APO77 Televid focusing problem (1 Viewer)

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