A word of warning regarding leica Binoculars

[wizzo]

Just a note to anyone considering buying a new pair of leica bin's. I sold my leica's to a fellow birder back in August. He promptly sent them off to leica to have the focus wheel adjusted, as they can be quiet jerky (a standard repair on these bin's apparently ). Anyway, almost 4 months later and several communications, the binoculars have still to be repaired and returned. I don't know why, but I felt a little embarrassed by his plight, as I was the one who'd sold them to him, so I made some equiries at my local optics store. They confirmed that they have now ceased doing business with Leica, for exactly this reason. They have customers binoculars, still not returned after six months and have been informed by Leica, that they currently have no engineer available to do repairs!! In comparison, they also said that owners of Swarovski optics, are currently enjoing a turn-around, on repairs, of just over a week. I was wondering if any members have suffered such bad service from leica, or indeed, any other optical manufactors? Wizzo

[thunder]

Four or five years ago I went to the Rutland Bird Fair. Leica had a stand with a repair technician. My 8x20s needed a minor adjustment (the folding mechanism had come loose). He adjusted them then and there, free of charge. Excellent service. Sad that the situation might have changed.

henrya

[Gill Catton]

Originally Posted by wizzo

Just a note to anyone considering buying a new pair of leica bin's. I sold my leica's to a fellow birder back in August. He promptly sent them off to leica to have the focus wheel adjusted, as they can be quiet jerky (a standard repair on these bin's apparently ). Anyway, almost 4 months later and several communications, the binoculars have still to be repaired and returned. I don't know why, but I felt a little embarrassed by his plight, as I was the one who'd sold them to him, so I made some equiries at my local optics store. They confirmed that they have now ceased doing business with Leica, for exactly this reason. They have customers binoculars, still not returned after six months and have been informed by Leica, that they currently have no engineer available to do repairs!! In comparison, they also said that owners of Swarovski optics, are currently enjoing a turn-around, on repairs, of just over a week. I was wondering if any members have suffered such bad service from leica, or indeed, any other optical manufactors? Wizzo

I took a pair of seriously knackered deltas to a 'in-focus' shop when shopping for new bins in the hope that they could be fixed and used as a spare pair. The service was amazing. I was warned that it could take four weeks for them to get back to me with a verdict and a further month to fix but they got back to me with a description of what was wrong within two weeks!

As it turned out repair really wasn't an option so I can't comment on repair times but the customer service from both in-focus and whoever they use for repair was excellent.

[lcnrussell]

I think Leica are fab, I needed new lens caps and they sent me a set free of charge and they arrived 2 days after I contacted them. Excellent service.

[wizzo]

Originally Posted by lcnrussell

I think Leica are fab, I needed new lens caps and they sent me a set free of charge and they arrived 2 days after I contacted them. Excellent service.

Ah yes! the old lens cap thing. Leica lens caps are known for perishing and then becoming detached. I too had this happen and like the above post, I had them replaced via a phone call, straight away. I think I posted elsewhere how pleased I was with the service. However, I suppose sending a couple of lens caps in an envelope is one thing, but having any serious work done is not quite as straight forward. Wizzo

[Kinniside birder]

Another word of warning regarding repairs. My binoculars have now been waiting for a part to be sent from Germany for over 3 months. Before sending them to this repairer I rang Leica UK to ask them to repair them and am still waiting for them to contact me.
I certainly would not buy Leica binoculars again just because of the service which is appalling.

[nigel_b]

A friend of mine, with Nikon HGs like mine, had cause to send them back for repair to the focus mechanism. They came back repaired, like new and with a new rubber armoured cover and all for £75. Dunno how long it took but not ages or he would have been moaning.