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Message: <blockquote data-quote="KorHaan" data-source="post: 1114229" data-attributes="member: 49910">Break no. 3!My birding buddy had the very same misfortune with his Leica Televid 77 last year!He bought his scope June 1998. On a seawatch, autumn 2006, he noticed at some point he lost sharp views and however he tried, he couldn’t focus anymore. He removed the stay-on case and was shocked  to find his scope BROKEN IN HALF, behind the tripod attachment ring. See the ATTACHED THUMBNAILS.  He’s a guy who always takes great care of his scope, and in the 8 years he has used it, he never dropped it or severely mistreated it. I can vouch for his trustworthyness, because we go out a lot together and he’s always careful with his equipment.He was puzzled as to how this could have happened, but managed to shove the two pieces together again and put the soc back on. This way he could use the scope for the rest of the day; back at home, he put black duct tape on to hold the two halves together.He wanted to send the scope to Leica as soon as possible, but due to ( happy ) family circumstances ( his first child had been born ) he didn’t find the time. July the 12th 2007 he brought the broken scope to a Leica dealer in his hometown, who sent it to the Leica importer for the Netherlands, and from there it was transferred to Leica Germany.My friend felt confident it would be repaired under guarantee; when he bought the Televid he had been told it had a lifetime guarantee.Not so.The Leica dealer where he had brought his scope informed him the repair cost would be € 605.33 !! ( About 400 GBP )The Leica dealer didn’t have a clue why Leica Germany refused to repair it under guarantee, so my friend got on the phone with the official Leica importer Transcontinenta in the Netherlands who phoned Leica Germany.Leica Germany claimed my friend must have dropped his scope or forcefully bumped it, to get it damaged the way it was. They refused to repair it under guarantee, reasons being “strong traces of using” and “impact damage”.Of course my friend denied this, convincing the Leica importer of his innocence. The scope body also showed haircracks long before the break incident happened ( see thumbnail ), that’s what made my friend believe the body was already weak. Transcontinenta began negociating with Leica Germany. It took my friend a lot of his time and many phonecalls, but Leica Germany remained unconvinced that the scope hadn’t been mistreated, and put all the blame on him. They found the haircracks in the scope body strange, but they stayed with their conclusion: impact damage. My friend was given the blunt choice to pay to get his scope back repaired, or leave it and get the two halves back.The most amazing announcement by Leica Germany was, that it couldn’t have been a fabrication fault, because QUOTE: “ THIS BROKEN SCOPE IS A UNIQUE CASE, IT HAS NEVER HAPPENED BEFORE A LEICA TELEVID BREAKING IN HALF SPONTANEOUSLY “ UNQUOTE.Surely, they must have remembered the two earlier cases that were similar to this one. So, what’s going on here? A severe lapse of memory by Leica? Or are the customers lying? I find both highly unlikely. Suggestions, anyone?End of story, Leica insisting on the € 605.33 repair amount, my friend who couldn’t afford a new one, reluctantly paid and 11th October 2007 received his repaired Televid back. The housing had been renewed, but they had not replaced the original tripod attachment ring. Greetings, Ronald</blockquote>

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