In my experience the warranty for Leica binoculars is not worth the paper it is
written on.
I bought my Leica Trinovid 10x42 BA from Birds Australia in 1999 for a little
under 2 grand. They came with a 35 year warranty. A while back the focusing
mechanism jammed. Adeal, the Australian agents/importers of Leica, directed me
to the Camera Clinic in Collingwood, the new authorised repairers, so I sent my
bins there in August 2010. Camera clinic claimed the warranty was void because
the screws were rusted and and quoted me about $200 for repair. In November
they said they needed more parts and bumped the quote up to over $300. In
January I wrote a complaint letter and made some phone calls. Camera Clinic
said the parts were on order through Adeal. Adeal said they had the parts in
stock. Adeal agreed to honour the warranty. Everyone apologised for the delay.
A couple of weeks later Camera Clinic told me they were sending the binoculars
to Germany for repair. In Feb, 6 months after it began I wrote another
complaint letter. Adeal then advised
me that Leica in Germany had deemed the bins unrepairable: elements need
replacing, outer case needs replacing, focusing mechanism needs replacing.
Seems to me that they were destroyed by the repairers. The warranty is not
being honoured. They have implied that I misled them about the condition of the
binoculars. Adeal and Leica Germany have offered to sell me a new pair for the
'generous' discount of A$1,750. This is not over yet, but needless to say I
won't be purchasing anything from Leica again.
A well engineered product is completely unreliable when the after-sales service
is appalling.
--- On Sat, 5/3/11, Paul Jacobson <> wrote:
From: Paul Jacobson <>
Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] Swarovski's
To: "Birding-aus Aus" <>
Received: Saturday, 5 March, 2011, 9:27 AM
From a quick search around it seems Leica is the only manufacturer that
doesn't have strict territorial restrictions on warranties.
Swarvoski US have this disclaimer in their warranty:
“Any SWAROVSKI OPTIK product that is purchased in the U.S. that is not imported
by SWAROVSKI OPTIK North America and not sold to a consumer by an Authorized
U.S. SWAROVSKI OPTIK North America Dealer has no Authorized Warranty.”
C.R. Kennedy, the Australian importer of Pentax, Hasselblad and Leica
industrial optics, explicitly state on their website will not provide warranty
coverage for grey market imports.
Nikon Australia also clearly state on their website that they will not honour
the warranty of equipment unless it has been purchased from an authorised
Australian dealer.
The Zeiss Australia site is a link to the US website but again the warranty
information explicitly excludes grey market imports:
"Only products imported by Carl Zeiss Optical, Inc. and purchased in the United
States or Canada from authorized Carl Zeiss Optical, Inc. dealers carry this
Limited Lifetime Transferable Warranty. Carl Zeiss Optical, Inc. will not
provide warranty service for products purchased through unauthorized dealers."
cheers
Paul
On 04/03/2011, at 10:02 PM, Alan McBride wrote:
>
> When you buy quality optics, it is a WORLD-WiDE warranty.
>
>
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