I'm considering the purchase of my first set of Leica binoculars and was wondering how does Leica's customer service compare to that of Swarovski or Leupold?

In short it doesn't compare very well.

A couple years ago I sent in my Leica spotting scope and got it back 7 months later, 3 months on my bino's.

Swaro and Leupold are normally a couple weeks.

Good news is Leica products (scopes, bino's and spotters) rarely break unlike the other two who have such fantastic CS. I guess practice makes perfect as they say.

How would you know that Leica products don't break ?

Swarovski and Zeiss outsell Leica by at least 10 to 1,
in sports optics. That is why you don't hear much about
Leica.

You could be right and I do know that Swaro out sells the others by a very large margin. Pretty sure Zeiss out sells Leica, but not by the margin Swaro has. In fairness, I don't hear a lot about Zeiss bino's and spotters puking, but I can't really recall any reports here about Leica bino's, spotters and scopes going belly up. Seems to be an awful lot of Swaro bino's getting "cleaned" by the owners here though. Just about everyone says their Leica bino's are built like the proverbial "tank". I think JB/MD has a lot of mileage on a pair of Duovid's and stated he couldn't break em despite the beating they've taken. For the record, I did say "rarely" break.....not unbreakable.

Perhaps you should look up a few posts on this thread, I had my bino's and spotter go belly up on the same hunt. bino's took 3 months and spotter took 7 months to fix. in fairness they fixed them (for a price) and they have been awesome since.

Two of my hunting partners over the past 25 bought Ultravids in the mid-90's. When it came time to refurbish them 3-4 years ago, it took numerous phone calls, a bit of frustration,and about 4-5 months for it all to happen and they had their Ultravids back in their hands.

Both of my Swaros took about 5 weeks, was as easy a transaction as a guy could ask for, and the binos came back BETTER than new, with entirely new eye assemblies, new coatings on the lenses.

I always thought their 8x32 Ultravids were a tad better than my 8x30 SLC's Now that they've all been refurbished, my SLC's are at least the equal of their Ultravids.

Swaro CS and warranty repair made me an even bigger fan.

Leica's warranty isn't transferable, and make sure a guy sends in the warranty card on his new pair of Leicas.

My limited experience suggests Swaro and Leica have the best quality of build, closely followed by Zeiss.........

Casey

I've owned a pair of Trinovid BCA's since 1986 and still going strong. Have purchased a Geovid HD-B and 4 ER Rifle scopes. The optics cannot be beat, maybe tied by Zeiss, the German stuff, not the Meopta or Asian stuff. Swaro sells a lot of stuff because they spend more on marketing and more folks own them and therefore get recommended more. I will be purchasing 2 of the Trinovid 10x42 for christmas presents this year. I am not worried about there customer service, their stuff has to go back to the fatherland for repair, if necessary. With the passport warranty period go get a new item and your is refurbished and re-sold as such.

The thing about Leica until their new ER5 Scope everything was made by them in either their German or Portugal plant, unlike the other two.

Do you think your Swaro's are as durable as your Leica's ?

I have owned a pair of Swarovski 8x30 SLC's for 20 years. One of the eyecups needed a pin replaced that broke several years ago. I called customer service, they said the pin was out of stock and sent me a free set of the winged eyecups to use while I waited. The pin showed up 2 days after the free eyecups.

A year ago I sent them in for a once over and cleaning, they are my constant companions in the woods and looked like a well used piece of equipment. I was just hoping to get them cleaned up. They refurbished them and they came back better than new. I was amazed at how nice they came back, they were basically new. I have never been charged a penny by Swarovski.

I bought a pair of the EL 10x42's a few years ago for hunting out west and I am just as impressed with them as my original 8x30's. I use my equipment, take care of it but certainly don't baby it. I am a big fan of Swarovski.

My best friend bought a pair of Leica the same time I bought my first pair of Swarovski. He dropped them and broke a piece of the exterior. They still work but look like hell. He called about getting them fixed and was quoted $600 to repair them. He wasn't expecting a free repair but they only cost $900-1000 new at the time. He put the $600 toward a pair of Swarovski binos.

Having owned quite a number of high end binocs, I still consider the Leica Trinovid BA's I used for 15 years to be the best built, toughest bino made, but Leica cannot be mentioned in the same sentence with Swaro and Leupold's CS, which was the OP's orignal question. Swarovision glass is stunning to say the least.

Swarovski - They returned my binoculars and told me to go pound sand after I sent their (my) binoculars in for servicing. They were too old they said. Hell, the only reasons I bought the Swaros were a) they were an older model for which I could get at a good price; and, b) everybody raved about Swarovski's customer service.

Zeiss - When I sent a scope in for servicing they replaced it with a significantly inferior model. To their credit, when I addressed it, they remedied the situation, eventually.

Leica - never needed their warranty when I did own their products.

Leupold - I sent a broken pair of Gold Ring 10X42s for repair/replacement. They told me since it was discontinued they could not replace them; but, gave me credit for last value of those binoculars. I was able to obtain three scopes from them.

Meopta - I purchased a set of damaged binoculars from another individual. Prior to purchase i contacted Meopta and asked if they would fix them. I bought them. I sent them to Meopta. Meopta sent me a new pair.

Worst customer service for me, Swarovski. Will I buy their products again? Yes. Second worst, Zeiss. Same question. Yes.

In answer to the OPs question, I sure as hell hope Leica's is better than Swarovski's. One of the reasons I don't buy much Leica anymore, even though I love their optics, is that, it is my understanding that if you aren't the original owner and have no proof of purchase, you have no warranty. I buy most of my optics used. I'm not saying they should offer lifetime transferable as that is their decision. I can't risk that on a high dollar optic.

RD, if that question is meant for me; I don't own any Leica's, been around Ultravids quite a bit though. I think the quality of build of the Big Three are going to be as good as it currently gets.

Casey

How old were your binos and what model were they?

Casey

I have returned my Leica binos every year for the last 5 years, for std service and cleaning. This years binos went to ups on Monday and they were back in my hands on Friday. I have never paid a dime nor have I ever waited more than a cpl weeks.
I bought both pairs from the local rep at the time and have never provided "proof of purchase" as I don't have it.

Obviously they didn't make the trip to Germany.........


Casey