Thoughts on LEICA M ?

[sillbeers15]

The delivery date for Leica M in SG is still March 2013. SG will be first in Asia to receive the M240 according to Leica Store. However Leica has yet to decide how it wants to prioritize it's delivery. Unconfirmed yet, but I'm hearing that priority will be for M240 + 50 AA lens pkg purchase.

 

[zixaw]

The delivery date for Leica M in SG is still March 2013. SG will be first in Asia to receive the M240 according to Leica Store. However Leica has yet to decide how it wants to prioritize it's delivery. Unconfirmed yet, but I'm hearing that priority will be for M240 + 50 AA lens pkg purchase.

The Leica Stores in Singapore are a joke. Not the dealers like Alan, Cathay, Click! and Gopes, just the official ones run by Leica Singapore.

When I ordered the 50 AA, they told me that I needed to buy the M Monochrom to get priority. So I bought the Monochrom, but since the 50 AA was delayed I was put at the top of the list. Bear in mind, I paid a premium of about $1000 for the Monochrom before Leica Singapore dropped the price and offered the early adopters an extra year of warranty.

Recently, I received a call from the store at Raffles congratulating me on being the first to be offered the 50 AA. Now this is a lie since I know a batch had arrived a couple of weeks earlier and sold to VIPs. Not a problem for me since I am just a regular user and I understand that they need to give priority to their special customers. Now the annoying thing is, they told me I needed to buy a Monochrom to get the 50 AA. I told them I bought the Monochrom to get on the list in the first place. BUT they said if I wanted the 50 AA I will have to buy another or wait for a later shipment. Go figure.

Same thing with the S zoom. I bought my S2 and 5 lenses from the Leica Store, when the S zoom arrived they offered it to me BUT only if I buy the new S.

Seems to me like business is not that good if they are trying to push sales this way. On the other hand, they are pushing away the loyal Leica customers that have been supporting them for years. This is silly on the part of Leica Singapore because in the past when they had a distributor (Schmidt) it made sense to buy locally because they could charge you for servicing if your set is not from them but now that Leica has taken over, they are obligated to service all Leica cameras and lenses no matter where you buy them.

Now the good news, I ended up getting my 50 AA, the new S and the S zoom from a dealer in Germany, all in, shipped to Singapore inclusive of GST I saved 20% compared to what I would have paid if I bought everything from Singapore. I have also ordered the new M from them and it is ALOT cheaper than Singapore.

 

[ricohflex]

The Leica Stores in Singapore are a joke. Not the dealers like Alan, Cathay, Click! and Gopes, just the official ones run by Leica Singapore.

When I ordered the 50 AA, they told me that I needed to buy the M Monochrom to get priority. So I bought the Monochrom, but since the 50 AA was delayed I was put at the top of the list. Bear in mind, I paid a premium of about $1000 for the Monochrom before Leica Singapore dropped the price and offered the early adopters an extra year of warranty.

Recently, I received a call from the store at Raffles congratulating me on being the first to be offered the 50 AA. Now this is a lie since I know a batch had arrived a couple of weeks earlier and sold to VIPs. Not a problem for me since I am just a regular user and I understand that they need to give priority to their special customers. Now the annoying thing is, they told me I needed to buy a Monochrom to get the 50 AA. I told them I bought the Monochrom to get on the list in the first place. BUT they said if I wanted the 50 AA I will have to buy another or wait for a later shipment. Go figure.

Same thing with the S zoom. I bought my S2 and 5 lenses from the Leica Store, when the S zoom arrived they offered it to me BUT only if I buy the new S.

Seems to me like business is not that good if they are trying to push sales this way. On the other hand, they are pushing away the loyal Leica customers that have been supporting them for years. This is silly on the part of Leica Singapore because in the past when they had a distributor (Schmidt) it made sense to buy locally because they could charge you for servicing if your set is not from them but now that Leica has taken over, they are obligated to service all Leica cameras and lenses no matter where you buy them.

Now the good news, I ended up getting my 50 AA, the new S and the S zoom from a dealer in Germany, all in, shipped to Singapore inclusive of GST I saved 20% compared to what I would have paid if I bought everything from Singapore. I have also ordered the new M from them and it is ALOT cheaper than Singapore.

This is some IDIOT's way of pushing sales. Obviously it is stupid beyond belief.
Grumbling about it in CS will be useless.
The Leica Singapore people will just ignore you and laugh.

To make a real impression, you must write to the press in Germany and get them to publish it in their newspapers. Let them do the appropriate translation into German.
With a special copy to the Chairman/President/CEO of the group controlling Leica in Germany. I heard that the company making LV bags is now controlling Leica. So Leica's focus may have changed into a sales driven doctrine where the managers must meet quarterly sales targets OR ELSE....... A respected optical world standard bearer has become just another fashion house.

Just make sure everything is factual with no exaggeration and there is no chance for the Leica Singapore people to sue you for libel.

 

[zixaw]

This is some IDIOT's way of pushing sales. Obviously it is stupid beyond belief.
Grumbling about it in CS will be useless.
The Leica Singapore people will just ignore you and laugh.

To make a real impression, you must write to the press in Germany and get them to publish it in their newspapers. Let them do the appropriate translation into German.
With a special copy to the Chairman/President/CEO of the group controlling Leica in Germany. I heard that the company making LV bags is now controlling Leica. So Leica's focus may have changed into a sales driven doctrine where the managers must meet quarterly sales targets OR ELSE....... A respected optical world standard bearer has become just another fashion house.

Just make sure everything is factual with no exaggeration and there is no chance for the Leica Singapore people to sue you for libel.

Nah, I will complain with my wallet.

 

[ricohflex]

Then no use. Because your wallet though very big, is only 1 out of many thousands in Singapore. Leica Singapore will not change.

 

[sillbeers15]

No point to complaint. I think it is Leica sales policy. I bought my M9 last feb without wait from leica store in SG ran by Max Photo, they too wanted me to purchase it with lens, so I picked the 35 FLE.
Looks like the same ploy will be used again in SG.

 

[NazgulKing]

No point to complaint. I think it is Leica sales policy. I bought my M9 last feb without wait from leica store in SG ran by Max Photo, they too wanted me to purchase it with lens, so I picked the 35 FLE.
Looks like the same ploy will be used again in SG.

That's a lot of money to let go...

 

[sillbeers15]

I adore the 50AA for it's least distortion. But it is my preference to use my 35 FLE as my all rounder photo taking lens over a standard 50mm lens. So the usage for a 50AA will not come in handy for me unless I can adopt it to become my close range portrait lens to compliment my 90AA.

 

[Thoth]

That's a lot of money to let go...

I'll buy in Munich.

 

[Dfive]

The Leica Stores in Singapore are a joke. Not the dealers like Alan, Cathay, Click! and Gopes, just the official ones run by Leica Singapore.

When I ordered the 50 AA, they told me that I needed to buy the M Monochrom to get priority. So I bought the Monochrom, but since the 50 AA was delayed I was put at the top of the list. Bear in mind, I paid a premium of about $1000 for the Monochrom before Leica Singapore dropped the price and offered the early adopters an extra year of warranty.

Recently, I received a call from the store at Raffles congratulating me on being the first to be offered the 50 AA. Now this is a lie since I know a batch had arrived a couple of weeks earlier and sold to VIPs. Not a problem for me since I am just a regular user and I understand that they need to give priority to their special customers. Now the annoying thing is, they told me I needed to buy a Monochrom to get the 50 AA. I told them I bought the Monochrom to get on the list in the first place. BUT they said if I wanted the 50 AA I will have to buy another or wait for a later shipment. Go figure.

Same thing with the S zoom. I bought my S2 and 5 lenses from the Leica Store, when the S zoom arrived they offered it to me BUT only if I buy the new S.

Seems to me like business is not that good if they are trying to push sales this way. On the other hand, they are pushing away the loyal Leica customers that have been supporting them for years. This is silly on the part of Leica Singapore because in the past when they had a distributor (Schmidt) it made sense to buy locally because they could charge you for servicing if your set is not from them but now that Leica has taken over, they are obligated to service all Leica cameras and lenses no matter where you buy them.

Now the good news, I ended up getting my 50 AA, the new S and the S zoom from a dealer in Germany, all in, shipped to Singapore inclusive of GST I saved 20% compared to what I would have paid if I bought everything from Singapore. I have also ordered the new M from them and it is ALOT cheaper than Singapore.

The official stores are owned by Max Photo no? My card receipt once showed that....

( Max, Click and the 3x Leica Stores are the same company. )

 

[zixaw]

The official stores are owned by Max Photo no? My card receipt once showed that....

( Max, Click and the 3x Leica Stores are the same company. )

Nope. This is really OT but interesting. I really don't know the politics or business behind it and I hope I come across as unbiased. Also if there are any mistakes someone please correct me.

The original Leica Store in Raffles was a joint venture between Max (majority share holder), Leica and Schmidt. When Leica took back the dealership from Schmidt, Max and Leica bought Schmit out. Sometime last year, Leica bought out most of Max, leaving Max with a very small share and that is when Max started Click!

As for the Mandarin Gallery and Ion stores, they have always been mostly Leica with a token share given to Max because of some contractual thing they had when Max started the first store in Raffles.

 

[Double Negative]

We got an unconfirmed report that the new Leica M might be here...

Can anyone verify if Raffles will actually have demo units - or more?

 

[zixaw]

We got an unconfirmed report that the new Leica M might be here...

Can anyone verify if Raffles will actually have demo units - or more?

They will have a demo unit tomorrow afternoon.

 

[Double Negative]

Thanks! Yeah, that we know (at least one dealer in the UK will also). But supposedly they'll have some units to sell...

 

[zixaw]

Thanks! Yeah, that we know (at least one dealer in the UK will also). But supposedly they'll have some units to sell...

They called me in the morning to say that I can buy a unit tomorrow, this was followed by a call a few hours later to say that a mistake has been made and only 1 unit will be available and it is to be used as a demo unit. They will however be taking "real" orders starting from tomorrow and the first batch will be sold bundled with a lens.

This is what I have been told but to be honest I will take it with a grain of salt as Leica Singapore has been bullshitting alot recently. I won't be surprised if they do have units for sale tomorrow but they have all been reserved for their VIPs.

 

[Double Negative]

Wow, what a runaround! I think it's fairly certain that there will be demo units... But I find it hard to believe there will be actual units for sale (that you can take home). But even the demo units are somewhat... Questionable. Because AFAIK the firmware hasn't been finished yet.

I know some places have a "waiting list" for people - others are first come, first served. Surely some will favor their "in" clients (VIPs) first like you say.

 

[Double Negative]

What is also interesting is that the latest ACR/LR release candidates have M support already. Now granted, they're still effectively "beta" releases and very much likely to change... But it must mean that most things are settled with the M as far as firmware.

 

[sillbeers15]

Yeah, the M240 will finally be available on 28 Feb'13!

 

[lowjason]

They called me in the morning to say that I can buy a unit tomorrow, this was followed by a call a few hours later to say that a mistake has been made and only 1 unit will be available and it is to be used as a demo unit. They will however be taking "real" orders starting from tomorrow and the first batch will be sold bundled with a lens.

This is what I have been told but to be honest I will take it with a grain of salt as Leica Singapore has been bullshitting alot recently. I won't be surprised if they do have units for sale tomorrow but they have all been reserved for their VIPs.

I got a call from Leica too. The stocks are in since yesterday, and due to be released tomorrow...Checked the price, and it has been marked up considerably - S$10,800 for body. There was no mention about bundle deal.

 

[sillbeers15]

The bundle deal is either with one lens (35 con) or with three lenses (21, 50, 90).
The bundle deal with one lens is going fast I heard!