Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/06/19
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]> John, > > Your explanation seems generalized and not Leica-specific. > > Leica USA is a wholly owned subsidiary of Leica Camera AG as are several other > companies in the Leica Group. Your scenario would imply that Leica is dumping > equipment outside of its own company-owned distribution channel. Only 900 of > the 1,600 Leica employees are in Germany. Given that Leica USA is a > subsidiary, what difference would it make it the camera was repaired in Solms > or NJ??? (Hell, labor costs in the US are less than in Germany). > > Bill > > > |Many of us on this list do not realise how products are distributed and > |warranty repairs done. The national distributor buys product at a fixed > |price. Out of the mark-up they add on, comes all the distribution, sales, > |advertising, etc expenses of the company(oops...and profit!). Warranty is > |not "free" to the national distributor. > On this subject there is another wholly owned subsidiary of a German camera company in the USA, Arriflex. They are well known for professional 16mm/35mm and 65mm movie cameras. About 15 years ago there were enough Americans going to Germany to buy new Arri cameras because the savings was very large. Then when they needed warranty service they would send it to ARRI USA. Of course anybody who has ever done business with ARRI USA know that they have an incredible service and parts department which is very costly to maintain (the similiarity to Leica in John Colliers post is very similiar). ARRI was losing their shirt on warranty work on cameras bought in Germany. So ARRI Germany solved the problem by making a rule that if you had an American passport you had to pay the US price for camera equipment. Lets face it there are certain realities that companies have to face particularly if they are a small volume company. So personally I would never buy grey market Leica gear, I figure that it is worth it to pay a bit more to keep Leica US alive and well. Steve Annapolis