I just received my M6 TTL back from Leica NJ that I had sent in under Passport Warranty. I had them adjust the shutter button (granted, a fairly simple thing ie. non major repair).

Well they received it last Thursday and it was fixed and delivered back to me today (Friday). Just about a week turnaround! I know that I must have received priority service by including the Passport card because I called them and asked what their turnaround time is for non Passport service and was told 5 weeks.

In other words, I'm pleased with the fast service under Passport Warranty and do feel that it's worth it. Just wanted to relay my experience with it to others.

As an aside, my shutter button seems to have a nicer feel now. It has more feedback (ie. it seems like it has a bit of a stronger spring or something).

-- Tim (emulsion71@hotmail.com), February 15, 2002

Answers

I had a similar experience with a Passport repair a few years ago when a new M6 exhibited problems with shutter bounce (the closing shutter ricochets back out into the frame, and you get a band of underexposure along the side of the frame). Took it into the dealer, they sent it back to NJ, and I had it back in less than a week.

-- Chuck Albertson (chucko@siteconnect.com), February 15, 2002.

Tim: I had a similar experience with an M6. The rangefinder was off, new out of the box. They turned it around in 1 week, door to door. It is nice that we hear some good, and not all horror stories.

:)

-- Mark A. Johnson (logical1@catholic.org), February 15, 2002.

Leica service in NJ, while expensive, is not the same grumpy, impossible to deal with, bunch of jerks that it was under Leitz. They have been really helpful to me, and I appreciate it.

-- (bmitch@home.com), February 15, 2002.

I sent in a Leitz M6 Classic for CLA, including RF fix/ajustment, to Leica, NJ. Turnaround was about two weeks, plus final price was less than estimate (which I considered an OK price.) Plus I was able to expedite by agreeing to the estimate price over the phone. Not only that I was e-mailed at both home and office, and telephoned to keep me updated. One funny thing, when the M6 was returned, the shutter sounded about twice as quiet as it had been before, and for some reason still sounds really muted.

-- Glenn Travis (leicaddict@hotmail.com), February 15, 2002.

I agree and have found the Passport service and warranty to be key. I have extended the plan to five years for all bodies and lenses for an additional $75 per lens/body and would encourage you to consider this as well.

-- Albert Knapp MD (albertknappmd@mac.com), February 16, 2002.

I inspected their work and they actually fixed my m6 better than it was out of the factory. The shutter leaf spring from the factory is held in place by two set screws with paint on them acting a bit like locktite. Well when I got the M6 back, there was additionally some epoxy on the leaf spring in two places on the edge near the set screws. Proves to me that Leica NJ knows what they are doing not only in fixing a problem, but in securing the part so that the problem won't crop up again. And, I can hardly believe that they turned it around so quickly.

I have to admit that I was a little afraid of sending my camera into them after some of the horror stories I've heard, but after this experience, I will not hesitate to trust them should another repair need comes up. I may even renew the Passport warranty when it is up.

-- Tim (emulsion71@hotmail.com), February 16, 2002.