Tell your great customer service experiences

I don't want a thread on who has offered poor cusotmer service. But this is a chance to tell us who has given you great customer service.

Not acceptable, ok, good, but great customer service.

For me:

STI and Charles Daly both have given me excellet CS. They paid to ship the gun to them, and were as prompt as they could be getting to my pistols.

Ed's Gun Shop in Vass, NC
www.edsgunshop.com/

Ed has treated us like royalty even though we're buying on a budget. I can't vouch for every employee in the shop because I haven't worked with all of them, but Ed himself and several of the others have given us the red carpet treatment -- being patient and informative as new pistol owners gathered information and made choices.

What he doesn't have in stock he'll order. When we ordered DS#2's Crickett he was upfront about our options for different amounts of shipping depending on whether we wanted it ASAP or could wait for the regular truck.

And when we were looking for a used, .22 revolver for DD he noted down what we were looking for, kept an eye out for it, and called us as soon as one came in.

We haven't bought an gun off the internet, but when we checked into his transfer fee it was quite reasonable.

Oops, double tap.

I posted this experience end of 2007 about an exceptional experience I had with Crimson Trace Customer Service. Details below:-

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?p=4009155&highlight=Crimson+Trace#post4009155

My Uberti Walker replica locked up on me one day out of the blue. After cleaning it as best as I could and checking for lodged caps (couldn't get it all the way apart), I called Uberti, and got someone who spoke english (yay!). They sent it back out in a little over 2 weeks and it was as good as new.

Lee Precision: Talked to John Lee some years back, he answered the phone when I called at lunch time and he was close to it when it rang. Great answers to my questions and great service to correct the problems I created.

I have a Guardian .32 that I bought used. It had a problem of dropping the magazine when fired and therefore would not pick up the next round to chamber. I sent it back to NAA, telling them that I had bought it used. They told me it was an 'old model', repaired it by replacing the mag release spring AND over $200 worth of other parts and charged me not one penny! SO, if the NAA's are not reliable, they WILL back them up and make them right.

Ruger Warranty Center in Quebec.

They had my GP100 in and out in less than a week. Spoke to the tech, Paul, and explained the problem, which was the cylinder not indexing properly on two chambers when the gun was held gansta style and the trigger was double actioned very slowly. I know this condition may never happen in real life but I want my brand new GP perfect.

Paul did his magic and now my GP cylinder locks up like it was welded.

Springfield Armory

I bought a XD-40, I had a few failure to ejects after about 200 rounds and I gave them a call. I noted that the ejector spring seemed a little weak and they emailed me a shipping label to return the gun for service. It was back on my doorstep within 10 days and has fired a flawless 1000 rounds since. They dropped a note inside that said it would have been back sooner but they had a day's wait to get it into the custom shop. I didn't know what that meant, thinking why would it need to go to the custom shop?? That is until I shot it, the trigger was noticably better after its little visit:)

Also, Arego's Guns in HS, Arkansas

I walked in there years ago not having a clue what I wanted other than not a glock. I was buying my first large caliber handgun for CC. They walked me over everything from Kel-Tecs to Kimbers and everything in between. When I finally decided on a make and design, they pulled out the catalog and walked me through the options. When I made up my mind, they didn't have it in stock in that particular model. They ordered it up, had it a few days later, and gave me a good break on the price since it wasn't in stock and I didn't mind waiting.

Since then I have bought half a dozen other new guns from them and done several transfers on used stuff I have bought online. They even held my 3 month old once while I filled out the paperwork. Very good people who know there stuff. They ALWAYS have the best price on new guns for me when I call.

I have always had great service at Hill's in Raleigh NC.
Colt and Hornady customer service has always been more than fair with me.

Had a Hi-Point that was jamming occasionally with hollow points. Was just looking for a feed ramp job but got back a brand new gun.

MidwayUSA has always treated me right.

I once got a shipment of reloading stuff I ordered, and in hastely opening the box of goodies, a part fell out of my sight and went under my desk.

I called them and they were going to ship this part the same day. We're talking about a 40-some dollar Forster case trimmer part. No sooner did I get off the phone, all the stuff carried down to my reloading bench, came upstairs and there was the part, under my desk!

I immediately called them to stop shipment on the part that was "lost and then found." They appreciated the second call from me.

There were also several times (more like around five) that the item I received was either the wrong size, I didn't like it, or whatever. Every time, without any questions, they took all the parts back and credited my credit card in full!

Bushmaster, in Maine treated me right when I thought I could remove the back pin and the pin chipped. They wanted me to ship back the whole lower receiver to be certain the receiver wasn't chipped or damaged. I told the technician "I will take several high resolution photos and email them to you immediately."

Once he saw the photos, he shipped the new pin with retainer and explicit directions on how to install the parts! I received the parts within two days of my calling via Priority Mail.

Springfield Armory as they humored many 1911 related questions when I bought a used Loaded model

slingsystem I bought a sling of theirs with adapters for an M16/AR15 A2 and wanted to put it on my M4orgery. They not only helped me get the right ones they sent them to me free of charge

Glock USA
I screwed up my 2nd gen g22 by loading a round in the pipe, bunged the extractor. Sent it to Glock, they returned it in 3 days with a new, updated extractor, no charge, no questions. I wish most stood behind their produxcts like that.

Beretta. My new Stampede broke and went out of time. They fixed it and paid for the shipping. The whole thing took two weeks. I was impressed.

Brownells is a class act.

I've never really had much interaction with firearms manufacturers that was positive. That's a bit misleading in some ways. The quality guns from reputable manufacturers that I've bought have all been pretty much flawless.

Smith and Wesson.
About 1990 I bought a new nickle plated Model 29. On my first trip to the range I noticed that the plating had come off around the crane, forcing cone, and front of the cylinder. My dealer sent it back to Smith and I put a note in the box asking about the price of a set of finger-groove grips. Two weeks later my dealer called to tell me my gun was back. It had the slickest, best polished nickle finish I have ever seen on it. Took the gun home and was about to throw the box away when I noticed a new set of finger groove grips in the box, free.:D

I've had efficient and friendly service from Dillon Precision, Brownells and Midway.

Sigarms (SIG-Sauer) treated me well when I had problems with one of their guns, paying the freight both ways and even voluntarily replacing the gun after its third repair. It was unfortunate that I had to use their great service.

Glockmeister (http://www.glockmeister.com) installed some night sights and other upgrades on my G19 at a gun show. A couple of months later the front sight stopped glowing. I took it to their store and explained the situation (I had no receipt and in fact could not even remember the precise date), and she installed a new sight in a few minutes, no questions asked.

Ruger has always been a "no question asked", "Customer is always right" company to me.

Kel Tec has always responded immediately to my email questions.

Wilson Combat and Kimber have always lived-up to their warranties, but I've had to argue with both of them to get them to agree to service.

I will never buy another Kahr again ever because of my experience with their customer service.

I'll pop in an at-a-boy for Hi-Point

Had a bent firing pin in my 995 , called to ask wether there was an upgraded pin and wanted to order one - got the yes , there is an upgraded pin and we will send one out to you (no charge), it was in my mailbox 4 days later.

I should also mention the CS people I spoke with were upbeat, friendly, and of course, helpful.

I have had outstanding service from FN, Smith and Wesson, Browning, and Ruger.

The men who run my local store are absolutely GREAT! We have bought several items from them and will continue to do so.

Here is the name and information of my LOCAL store:

MONTANA ORDNANCE & SUPPLY

2100 Stephens Avenue
#118
Missoula, MT
59801
Office: 406- 549-8177

It is a great store to do business with, if they don't have it in stock, they will order it for you, if you want something unusual or older - they are @ gun shows and they do consignments too.

We will continue to do business with this store!

Catherine

Called to ask for repair/replace on a P22 "target" model's front weight. It kept loosening up while at the range, and we'd started to strip the setscrews trying to keep the damn thing on.
~5 minutes on the phone with Walther, and we had a new barrel sleeve, weight, and a set of screws. I then asked about the cost of a short-barrel conversion kit, as we were rather annoyed with the silly front weight and figured the extra 1.5" of barrel weren't helping if the front sight was moving around.

3 days later [one of them a Sunday], A package shows up in our mailbox from Walther, containing a new weight, an extra set of screws, an extra set of P22 tools, extra front sights, and the short barrel conversion.
The package looked as if it had had an adventure in that short time, perhaps due to trying to find a non-existent/misspelled town/street [ZIP+4 was right, so it made it anyway]. Even so, the contents were carefully packed and undamaged.

Now I wish I had written down the name of the guy at Walther, so I could call him and/or his boss and thank them profusely. Our P22 runs so much better without the extra crap on it, and while it will never be a competition gun, is back to being a reliable plinker.

Marlin.

I bought an 1894 Model levergun in .32H&R from them. It jammed up pretty quick several times. I sent the gun in, got a call back from them stating that it never should have left the factory as the feed system was THAT bad.
They offered to fix it, send me a new gun, or give me a refund. I opted for the refund as I had another rifle I wanted on layaway. However, my next Bolt gun will PROBABLY be a Marlin.

Smith & Wesson --> absolutely the best manufacturer I've dealt with. Their products have always been top notch, but if you do have any issues, they'll send you a prepaid shipping label and fix it. I love S&W products and recommend them to all my friends. I own many, many S&W guns and only had 2 w/ problems (Walther P22 did not eject 100%, 1911 sights off too much to the right).

Bushmaster --> The second best manufacturer. Again, good products and sends your prepaid shipping label. However, they didn't fully fix the issue on the first try (Carbon-15 feed ramp not lined up, causing bullet to be pushed back into case). Also, I had encountered an issue in their product when I only have 2 of their guns... 50%. I recommend Bushmaster to my friends, and I'd love to buy more of their guns. (Although I've been buying S&W's AR15s, but I definitely won't mind getting a Bushmaster one.)

HK --> an OK company. They don't pay for shipping, but their turn-around time is fast and was able to connect me directly w/ the gunsmith on the phone. This is the only company that called me before sending my gun back to verify if the delivery time would work out (all the other companies just send the gun back w/o telling me... good thing I'm not out of town often).

Kahr --> Substandard manufacturer in my books. I bought a PM9 and loved it so much that I bought another one as backup. The backup one had major feeding issues and sights too to the right (or was it left, can't remember, been too long) (its already drifted left most). Kahr send my some recoil springs that fixed the feeding issue (free) and agreed to pay for the gun to be sent back. Since I decided to sell my backup at the time, I told Kahr that the new seller will contact them to get the prepaid shipping label. After selling the gun, Kahr refused pay for shipping, making me look like I lied to my buyer. It they don't want to pay shiping, that's fine, but they shouldn't change their agreement or at least tell me. I'll never buy another Kahr product again; and I sold my other PM9 that I liked so much.

Those are the manufacturers that I needed to deal with gun function issues. There are other manufacturers that I did not need to contact because their guns work 100% out of the box: Glock, Colt (I just own 1 1911 gov), SigSauer (pistols), CZ (rifles and shotguns only), Kimber (rifles only), Browning (shotguns only), and probably others that I can't remember right now.

Just a couple..

Had a question about my GI-45. Springfield tech called me back that afternoon with the answer.

Local gunshop...Bought an extra mag for my KP-90 Ruger. Got it home, and could only load 3 rounds into it. Went back to the shop (it was late Saturday afternoon). Guy took mag apart, and said it was assembled wrong. He showed me that he could load 8 into it after that, and they gave me a box of PMC .45 ACP ammo for my troulbe.

Guy called me Monday afternoon and said "We got some more Ruger P-90 mags in. Do you want to swap that one?"

I broke the decapping pin on a LEE PRECISION rifle die. LEE PRECISION sent another one to me free. Took about three days . Good customer service.