People rag on Kimber, but...

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Olympus

Olympus

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It seems wherever you look people are ragging on Kimber guns for any reason they can come up with, but a very common one is about the 1 year warranty compared to much longer warranties from other companies and how Kimber customer service is terrible. I just thought I’d share my recent experience.


I bought a used Solo Carry on GB for the ridiculous price of $375 ( I was the only bid). Gun came with the Crimson Trace grips and had an idiot scratch, but I wasn’t worried as the gun was gonna be used as a carry gun anyway. Gun arrived and I immediately went to shooting and it had FTEs almost every shot. I’ve owned a Solo in the past and knew all about the little spring that has to be captured by the slide stop lever. I checked that and it was seated correctly. I cleaned the gun thoroughly and that didn’t help. I tried a variety of different ammo and that didn’t help either. So I decided to just call Kimber and see what they’d say.


I called customer service and told them the whole story, that it was a used gun, that I was not the original owner, and that the gun was well outside the warranty period. I said I’d happily pay for whatever work needed to be done, I just wanted the gun to work. The lady was very nice and took all of my information. She said she would send a prepaid shipping label with instructions for how to send the gun back. I asked if they would send me a bill or call me to let me know what the repair costs would be and she said there would be no charge and that they would take care of it for me! Kimber paid shipping both ways and did a crap ton of repairs to a gun well outside the 1 year warranty and not the original owner all for free! I’ve attached the repair sheet showing what work was done. People like to rag on Kimber, but I can’t complain one bit! They definitely impressed me!

F9A27FD2-7BE9-4B28-A5FA-9FD59B593FA2.jpeg
 
Customer service is the name of the game nowadays. That probably cost them $100 between shipping, parts and labor, but I'm sure you'll remember it and so will everyone who reads this thread. IMHO that's cheap advertising, and good on you to share it here for them.
 
Very nice! Just because there is a published warranty period does not necessarily mean that a company must only honor repairs within that warranty. I suspect the intent of limited warranties is two-fold... 1) prevent someone from trying to turn in a 20 year old shot out beater gun with the expectation that they’ll get a total make-over for free and 2) to ensure that parts are available for guns to be repaired as the older a gun gets, there is an increased likelihood that the parts used in that gun are no longer in production or have been modified/updated and cannot easily replace broken parts.

The bottom line is that it never hurts to ask if they’ll help you out. I’ve found that most companies would rather spend a few bucks on shipping and repairs than deal with negative reviews, inquiries from the Better Business Bureau, etc.

I’m glad it all worked out for you!
 
People rag on Kimber because for the most they don't own one. IMO. I have a full size 1911 Custom and years ago I had a Colt Gold Cup. Maybe it's due to the time difference in technology but my Kimber is a much better pistol.
 
I have 4 Kimbers and couldn’t be more pleased. No issues what so ever and excellent accuracy and reliability. I have a micro 9, TLE II Pro 45, Eclipse Target 38 super and Ultra II two tone 45. I also have a custom 45 Springfield 5” that would cost over $3000 today, a 9mm RO Springfield 5” with target sights and a Colt LW stainless Commander SXE 38 super. All were bought new or I had the SA custom built from a new mill spec.

The Kimbers are by far the best finished and best blended of the off the shelf guns with the Springfield RO being close. Edges are rounded on the Kimbers zone dirfaces are nicely blended. The finish is beautiful on each and everything is very tight but smooth. My Eclipse requires a bushing wrench to take down. Accuracy is outstanding out of the box from the 3 larger guns. The 3 larger pistols have excellent triggers. The micro 9 is very good but they’re not target pistols.

The 9mm SA is close. It’s tight and smooth with a very nice stainless finish and edges are nicely rounded with no sharp edges. Accuracy and trigger are great.

The colt, well let’s say I just wanted a Colt Commander 38 super. I honestly can say this is a sloppy gun I can rock the slide side to side and when you swivel the barrel bushing to remove it, if you point the barrel down the bushing falls out by itself. The edges are sharp with no rounding or blending. If I carried it in a holster it would eat up the leather. Finish is C grade and accuracy is good but not excellent. It’s not what I expected from what I’ve read.

My custom SA is in a totally different class but the Kimbers come about as close to it as you can get out of the box.
 
I really hope that Kimber management has finally realized that all the bad press about their customer service has had an effect on sales.
I have 2 Kimbers a flagship Super Match and a 10mm Target II, both have been back to Kimber for a variety of reasons.
Bought the 10mm when it first came out, big mistake, nothing but problems, FTF, FTE, broken extractor. Sent it back twice, each time they acted like it was my fault and were reluctant to take action. Finally after the second return I got some Colt magazines and all the problems went away. In the case of the Super Match I'm on my third set of adjustable rear sights, which the folks at Kimber attribute to normal wear. I attribute it to crappy MIM parts. I will say that both pistols are extremely accurate but because of my experience with their customer service I've given my new 1911 business to Dan Wesson and have been very happy. ;)
 
I've read numerous complaints about Kimber over the years. I've also read where people love theirs, always two sides to a story. The thing about people is that we are more likely to express our displeasure and less vocal about the good things. If you read enough on
forums like this one you will hear negative experiences with about every brand of firearms. A friend of mine has a number of Kimber 1911 pistols and he has had no problems with them.​
A lot of the negative stories I've read are by people who have never owned that particular gun and are only parroting what they read elsewhere.
About six months ago at my LGS I was looking at Sig and Kimber for a small 9mm, 1911 style pistol. The owner who I know pretty well said he liked Sig pistols but has had a lot of problems with their customer service. He recommended the Kimber Micro 9 because he has had excellent customer service experience with them. Between the Sig and Kimber there wasn't enough difference to sway me either way. Both are well made pistols. I bought the Kimber and have not had one problem it, has around 400-500 rounds through it. My nephew and his two sons who are not very experienced handgun shooters had no malfunctions with it when I took them to the range the other day. Four different people with varying degrees of handgun experience and not one failure. If I do have any problems I hope my gun shop owner's good experience with their CS works for me too.
 
I've owned a number of Kimbers in various calibers and found them to be excellent guns. They are well made, reliable and accurate. In my opinion, they are the best value in a 1911.
 
Same here. Five Kimber 1911s, never a malfunction or parts breakage with any of them. Fit and finish superb (yeah, pretty pistols), good (and a couple great) triggers, acceptable accuracy. A favorite:
Kimber.jpg
 
Some years ago I found a Kimber SVT 22 rifle in a LGS. I bought it and it shot okay but I expected better. They were out of production by this time but I thought by chance Kimber may have some suggestions. I called Kimber and they said send it up and they would look but they wanted me to know they had limited parts for them. They had it for 2-3 weeks and I called just to see how it was going. Kimber told me they thought the headspace was off so they fitted a new bolt and recrowned the barrel. He went on to say they were all having fun with it at the test range and they thought it shot good. I got it back and it will now shoot groups in the 0.200" range @ 50 yards. The only thing it cost me was shipping to Kimber, they covered everything else. You will never hear anything bad about Kimber from me. Great company IMHO. YMMV
 
I’m always skeptical of posts that start “I’ve never owned one but”. I also wonder if some of the problems occur because some folks are impatient about breaking one in. I have 4 Kimbers and even during breakin I’ve not had any issues but I can understand how they can occur. Of the 7 1911’s I have minus my custom SA the Kimbers are the the tightest built guns which I think contributes to the exceptional accuracy.

I’m a 98% retired commercial and documentary photographer. Ive been in the business over fifty years. In the photo world it is Leica owners bashing Nikon and Canon and Nikon owners bashing the others and on and on. My brother is a luthier and builds premium acoustic instruments and it’s the same in that world. Some of its jealousy driven and some bad luck and some folks just like to be angry.
 
brutus51 said:
I really hope that Kimber management has finally realized that all the bad press about their customer service has had an effect on sales.

I have 2 Kimbers a flagship Super Match and a 10mm Target II, both have been back to Kimber for a variety of reasons.
Bought the 10mm when it first came out, big mistake, nothing but problems, FTF, FTE, broken extractor. Sent it back twice, each time they acted like it was my fault and were reluctant to take action. Finally after the second return I got some Colt magazines and all the problems went away. In the case of the Super Match I'm on my third set of adjustable rear sights, which the folks at Kimber attribute to normal wear. I attribute it to crappy MIM parts. I will say that both pistols are extremely accurate but because of my experience with their customer service I've given my new 1911 business to Dan Wesson and have been very happy. ;)
Click to expand...

I don't think Kimber has noticed any decrease in sales. They continue to be the largest seller of 1911s in the US.
 
As someone who some years ago worked at a LGS where we were a "master dealer", I observed a disturbing number of these pistols come back for warranty service. Considering the price these customers paid for their pistols, the time they were required to wait for them to be delivered, and the less than stellar concern from the manufacturer to make things right, I have reservations about them as a company. I own one, a 4 digit serial number gun that has performed flawlessly- I'm not speaking of that gun or the other ones that work as advertised. Maybe things have improved since then.
 
I've owned half a dozen Kimbers over the last ~20 years. One had a minor issue as received, but the others performed reliably from day one. The one time I contacted Kimber customer service, they handled the issue flawlessly.

I suspect people may rag on Kimber, for the same reason people rag on the United States. Both are very successful........

I
 
FL-NC said:
As someone who some years ago worked at a LGS where we were a "master dealer", I observed a disturbing number of these pistols come back for warranty service. Considering the price these customers paid for their pistols, the time they were required to wait for them to be delivered, and the less than stellar concern from the manufacturer to make things right, I have reservations about them as a company. I own one, a 4 digit serial number gun that has performed flawlessly- I'm not speaking of that gun or the other ones that work as advertised. Maybe things have improved since then.
Click to expand...

Turnaround time for my gun was 11 days and that’s counting shipping time there and back.
 
All companies go through phases, for the past 10 years or so Kimber's has been to flood the market as seen by their massive marketing campaign. you can't pick up a magazine without seeing their 1911's all over it.
They make a beautiful gun but when I compare the fit and finish to a Dan Wesson there is no comparison in my opinion.
 
I've owned 3 Kimbers, still own a Warrior. All worked fine and shot well.

I do have 2 major complaints.

1. Kimpro finish is absolute garbage. My Warrior was showing holster wear before I ever even put it in a holster, somehow. Luckily I dont care that much but its pretty pathetic

2. Stock mags. 2 of the 3 mags my Kimbers came with were literally unusable. Something with the follower hung up in the tube under spring pressure and you had to pry the rounds back out. Again, I usually just toss stock 1911 mags in a bucket and use Wilson or CMC mags anyway, but i could see how terribly frustrating it could be to buy a brand new gun and be unable to shoot it out of the box because of the single provided mag. I did get an aftermarket Kimber mag that functioned fine.
 
Kimber 1911's appeared in the mid 90's (as I recall). At that point I wouldn't buy any 1911 that wasn't a Colt. I probably had 15-18 1911's at that point, all Colts. I had 1 or 2 that were really accurate, the rest were acceptable at the range but all functioned 100% with the exception of those purchased used and required restoration tweaks to fix "upgrades" done by kitchen table gunsmiths. Along comes Kimber with a gun "Classic Model Custom" that has everything a typical 1911 owner wants. Tight slide to frame rails and barrel to hood fit, Novak style sights, skeletal hammer with upswept grip safety slanted slide and forward (yuk) serrations and a guide rod. Whoop de do! It was a wonderful gun for about $110 less than a standard Colt series 80. I bought a pre series 2 Pro Carry and really liked it.
When Kimber added the series 2 people were turned off by the safety system on the 2. Then Kimber had serious problems for a couple years with that safety system. That's when Kimber detractors really got their chance to point out their thought that it was junk. At this point Kimber had a BUNCH of models and their prices caught up to and surpassed Colt and Springfield. 1911 buyers were really PO'ed about buying a pricey Kimber that didn't work.
I think Kimber detractors still base their bad op pinions on the series 2 failures that by now are just old and obscure news. I still won't buy a series 2 Kimber. My only Kimber is a Classic model Custom made in '96.
 
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