I don't think its funny, mine was one of the cameras with the broken glass. FYI the delay in repair time is nothing to do with owners complaining that it is an engineering defect (although what else could it be??). The delay in repair time is because Leica sat on their hands so long they ran out of spare parts. It is not because Leica are testing to find the cause (they have their own cameras for that), they are just replacing sensors. The irony being that Leica must have known long before anybody else of a trend for this type of repair, so even if they didn't know what had caused it they could have anticipated needing some parts.
So to add some salient facts, no Leica do not know what has caused the problem. There is no correlation between engineering factors or usage that can explain the cause. It is limited to a small number of cameras (possibly 30 at most) built before December 09. Mr Daniel promised a fast priority turnaround for any broken cameras, but they ran out of spare parts, and just as they got some new parts Leica went on holiday for two weeks.
So, would you not think things could have been done better perhaps, a little more organisation perhaps, some foresight maybe? So I've got my camera back and the away time was 31 days, about average for the recent spike in claims. It is normally expected to be a five day turnaround, so thats why people are complaining.
Steve
I ment funny in a literary sense, not literal. Nor was it aimed at you or anyone else in particular.
What is your connection to Leica that would give you privy to this sort of information, and how much experience have you had with camera manufacturers in general which would give you insight as to engineering, manufacturing and repair practices? Where did you get your 'salient facts'?
Where did you get the 5 day turnaround expectation figure? Are you also including shipping times to and from Germany? I know of no manufacturer who routinely completes repairs in that time frame. Two to six weeks is more the average, with much longer a possibility if there are backordered parts. Which is also becoming more common. The Canon PCS program does provide for expedited repairs and shipping, but this is an extra service that you pay for and is only available to qualified users. And even then, prone to delays if there is a part shortage.
And yes, if there seems to be a trend in complaints, the manufacturers will study the submitted equipment to try and determine the cause. Why replace possible defective parts with the same? If a part does prove to be problematic, then it will have to be reengineered and the manufacturing line reconfigured. Nikon had a camera that they changed the main circuit board design five times in the first year. Needless to say, this takes time.
If they can't duplicate the problem, this makes to process much more difficult.