Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics Revisiting Leica Customer Service

And mule deer season starts for real here Wednesday........Anybody got a Vortex Fury for sale?????
This has turned into a complete cluster......

Unfugginbelieveable.


What an absolute shïtshow.

No kidding! At least this time it wasn’t their fault.

Yeah, but a little more bubble wrap would have maybe cushioned the blow a little better. Looked like they bought one 1/4" thick role at Dollar Tree and called it good. If I charged a premium for whatever product I'm selling, I'd be ashamed of myself the way this went down. I also get the redasss in that you can't talk to a single living person except for Hamilton, and he's not even in the CS business, but in fact he's there most valuable asset. If I were Leica, instead of making a customer wait and "see if we have one in stock to send you" I'd be trying to work through one of their retailers to send it out immediately, and have Leica reimburse the retailer. Doesn't seem that hard to me. If I have to wait until they get product from Germany it could literally be months. If Leica offered me my money back right now I'd take it and run.

I totally understand now why people put up with adequate glass and superior customer service like Vortex for a product like this, and that's a shame.

Just heard back from a lady at Leica customer service via email....of course they can't pick up the freaking phone and make a phone call......said they "have placed an order" for a new unit and "hope to have them maybe by mid week", then they have to get them to me. Guess I'll be back to using a reliable (so far) chicom Sig BDX 2200 and slum my 8x42 SLC's when these two mule deer hunters come to camp Wednesday, both having paid $5500 each to be here.

You can bet your assss the next time I read or hear anything about Leica's "great, improved, etc" customer service I'll copy and paste this for the world to see. Screw it, I'm ranting, frustrated, and borderline pissed off about it.

I've had good luck with an older Leica rangefinder.

However, based on their CS, alone, I will never buy another Leica product.

Damn JG, you and I have been bitten by the same bad luck bug.

Johnny - Hard to believe that you have this bad luck which is compounded by a lackadaisical attitude. Thankfully I have not. I normally have the all the bad luck…
I just now remembered a an early LRF that when I was trying to replace the 9v battery destroyed the connector. I bandaged it up for the season and afterwards sent it in. Few weeks later got a new unit back….

I would offer to loan you my Vortex Fury HD 5000s, but I won't be in Junction until Saturday and I don't fancy driving much further West than that since I am coming from Austin. I am impressed with the Vortex LRF Binos. Obviously not alpha glass, but I have been able to see before legal shooting light and after legal shooting light well enough to count antlers against brush. That is good enough for me.

Very kind of you Dan, thanks a bunch for even considering that. I'm seriously considering selling these replacements as soon as I get them, but being in the middle of hunting I'm not sure. I may try them out. Good hunting to you.

Doug is world class...he stepped in to help me years ago with a Leica customer service issue by getting me in touch with a contact at Leica that did care about their product and image.

JG, I tend to agree with you about using them for all the time and frustration you have in this glass. I did the same with the replacement scope they eventually sent me and love the scope even though I lost a few hundred in the end. If after the season you ain't satisfied with the glass sale them then.

Leica customer service is still lacking....when I called them about a simple part for a range finder it was obvious from the start they have a "Could care less....don't have time to screw with you attitude".

First told me to check with Bass Pro or Sportsmans Warehouse....a couple of phone calls later after explaining Bass Pro nor Sportsmand doesn't sell Leica parts 2 days later they took my order....after another phone call and a couple more days I finally received an email acknowledging my order.

$37.00 plus shipping for a simple $2 neck strap
....Wouldn't surprise me none if they started charging you by the minute to talk to you.

Has to come from Germany hope they don't charge me an import fee....I really have my doubts of ever getting the part.

My experience was way different. I used their website email to initiate a request. Got a next day response telling me to send it in. Which I did.

Few days later, got a "We received your product" return email. Two days later got a "We are replacing your unit with a new one." email.

Next got an email with tracking info and received rangefinder about 3 days later. Whole process was less than two weeks.

Sorry others are having issues, but my experience was flawless.

The replacement unit is an outstanding performer. I'm assuming this is the level of performance Leica was shooting for in the first place. The ballistic app/interface is miserable though....won't connect. It gives reliable ranges though.

I just bought Swarovski EL RF binos.


As mentioned in previous posts on this thread, I have Leica and Swarovski optics. Due to past experiences with both companies customer service departments AND this thread as an example, I chose the Swarovski over the Leica. They were more expensive but I’m expecting it will be made up for in the quality department. Both are priced at high end, alpha products but the Swarovski customer service experience trumped Leica as a deciding factor for the price point. I hope Leica takes it to heart, they must step up their game, period.

They suck….I had a thread years ago about it. That is all

TAG

Over the years Leica's CS has tended to be hit or miss. The North American facility has only had the ability to make minor repairs, and a limited parts inventory. If the item is in stock the transaction seems to be easy, but more times than not if parts have to make the trip from Germany or repairs have to make the round trip across the pond via the Mayflower--that's where it seems to become complicated......

Your experience with Leica CS matches mine as I waited almost 2 months for an item sold as being “in stock”. The CS communication and difficulty is really hard to see in such a long tenured optics company.

That said I have owned 4 generations if hd-b’s and all of mine have been flawless and ranged further then advertised and did so very quickly.