Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/05/30
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I bought all of my Leica gear used, as "demo" or "deko". In case of my M6, the
"demo" label was the dealer's way to sell a brand new, certainly unused M6 in a
sealed box 25% under the recommeded list price in Germany at that time. Although
retail prices are not fixed anymore by manufacturers as it used to be in Germany
30 years ago, many manufacturers of "big brands" as well as the community of
"official" dealers do not like that individual dealers undercut their
"recommended" prices.
Other Leica items in that particular dealer's show room are labeled "aus
Rücknahme" ("returns") which either means returned, unsold stock from dealers,
warranty repairs which were not returned to the original owner, returned prices
from lotteries, phozo contests etc..
I also bought a couple of items with "Deko-Ware" stamped in red block letters on
the box and on the warranty card. Probably this gear was used to decorate the
visitor areas in the Leica factory, but correct me if I am wrong.
So far I had no technical problems with "demo" or "deko" items, with the very
exception of my pre-asph 21/2.8. The ring that holds the index point for the
aperture ring and, more important, the clip-on hood, fell of twice. It is only
glued to the barrel, without any screws and in both case the lens was exposed
to fairly high temperatures of +40°C! At the first time it was fixed on
warranty. The second time the offical Leica repair service charged me almost USD
200! The 200 included cost for fixing or centering the focussing helical, but at
that time I had the lens for only three years!
After all, for prices being marginally above second-hand level I got practically
new items from an offical dealer with full Leica warranty.
Hans-Peter