Gun Mfg customer service- the good, the bad, and the ugly?

I will never by a Smith and Wesson firearm after a bad CS experience. Wife had one of the older S&W Bodyguards 380 with the Insight laser. The trigger pull was heavy. And by that I mean over 15 pounds heavy, as it was topping out my trigger gauge I had. Sent it back in. Had to pay shipping both ways. No updates or communication. Just showed up back at my door taking a little over 2 months. They test fired it, rather excessively based on how dirty it was, and made no change. Handwritten on a sheet was "Trigger within factory spec, returned to customer." I cleaned the gun and sold it about a week later.

I've typically had good customer service from Kimber, Sig, Springfield, Berreta, Smith and Wesson, and Ruger. Sometimes it took them more than once to get it right, but they usually gave me some freebies in those instances. I did have a rude customer service rep at S&W once, but I just asked for someone else.

The disappointing thing is how often I've had to send in new stuff. Quality control seemed to be down with the gun buying binge after Sandy Hook, presumably in an effort to keep up with demand.

The only company I have dealt with is Ruger. I purchased a stainless Redhawk Bisley off of gunbroker. I was really disappointed with the finish and the grip fitment when I received it. Also the cylinder chambers were so tight I had to force factory rounds into it, never did fire it. I sent them an email. The next day I was called by Ruger and the lady on the phone was awesome! She got my name and address, sent me a label the next day. The gun was with Ruger for four days. Upon opening the box I found a very sincere hand written letter from the smith who worked on the gun. He explained that he replaced the cylinder, polished the entire gun and hand selected and fitted new grips. Absolutely awsome service!

I've called Ruger, Smith and Wesson, Taurus, and Marlin.

Ruger was great CS, no problems.
Smith & Wesson was also great CS, no problem.
Marlin was good as well, sent me my parts in good time.
Taurus was himming and hawing about sending me some screws until I told them I have owned several Taurus guns, they broke down and sent me what I needed.

savage is awesome! I purchased a savage axis that never ejected rounds all the way and then found it to have a super short throat because some factory ammo wouldn't chamber without hitting the lands so I sent I called and they sent me a overnight shipping label for ups and within 4 weeks I heard nothing so I called and she said they were busy and the smith was at the range with the rifle to call back. I explained to her about the factory rounds not chambering and the smith said it had a short throat and asked if I wanted to have it lengthened and I said well I'm reloading for it so doesn't matter. he said he replaced the bolt face because the ejector was bad, polished he chamber and fired it 10 times and it shot pretty well for him and it would be back to me within the week. the gun runs smoothly now and everyone at savage was very nice.

I also had a vortex scope go bad on me and email was answered within a few hours. scope was received Monday and fixed by Tuesday and back Wednesday. fedex wanted a signature and morning delivery when I was at work so I called vortex and asked them to fix the signature thing and the guy said he would do it as soon as he hung up with me. they changed it and all was good. very good CS.

emailed smith cause of the coating on my j frame coming off and it took 2 weeks or more for an email back and it said email them my info so they could start a claim. I emailed back and never heard anything back from them.

Wouldn't it be better customer service if they were careful to sell you a gun that worked?

Only gun company I have ever had to deal with was Armi Jager. They made a very close copy of the AR-15 in 22 LR. Had problems with it not feeding the last round of the magazine. The company diagnosed the problem over the phone as a magazine problem, but said that since they no longer sold guns in the United States the best they could do for me was to sell me two magazine for the price of one as a "goodwill gesture". Since I had bought the gun used, I thought that was reasonable and took them up on it The new magazines have worked flawlessly for the last 34 years.

The only manufacturer that I’ve ever had a problem wit was Beretta. Even though the gun was only a couple of years old, I was not the original buyer so they pretty much told to go pound sand. I’ll never own another Beretta.

Never sent a firearm back that I remember, but have had a couple other things.

Two things from Leupold. One was a VX-III that I was second owner. Probably 30+ years old. They replaced it free with a new and highly improved VX-3. I bought a new set of binoculars at less than 1/2 price. Threaded eye piece had stripped threads. They replaced them with a new and improved version free. $560 binos for less than $200.

Bought a NOS Dillon 450 press. Powder measure leaked around the slide area. Took a couple phone calls but they sent an entirely new measure and bushings. The parts were probably more than I paid for the press.

For glass I've had excellent CS from SWFA and Primary Arms as well as Vortex.

For guns I've had excellent CS from S&W and Taurus.

The only gun-related CS I've been unimpressed with is Boyd's Gunstocks. Admittedly I made a mistake in torquing the action bolts but the stock came with no instructions, nothing. They told me I should have employed a gunsmith to install the stock, and more or less to go pound sand. If a manufacturer recommends or insists that a gunsmith needs to install a product, how hard would it be to tell the customer that? Or how about some guidance concerning proper installation? In any event, I'm done with them.

After owning and purchasing guns over 45 years service comes and goes. It is an expense offset in the guns price. No maker can avoid making a lemon, simply because there will be another buyer who comes along with heightened expectations of perfection that don't meet the realities of the marketplace. That is one thing that has happened in the last 30 years - in the day many were directly involved in factory production themselves and the general gun buying public had a much wider knowledge of what it took to put out a product. They were also likely to be a veteran or know one. Now we have one prior servicemember in one hundred, and the working population is service related - not manufacturing. The consumer no longer understands or even has a clue what it takes to make a product. They demand a level of performance that actually doesn't exist and which was never promised, which then taints the discussion with their damaged expectations. That they were asking for something that those more mature to the shooting sports would never expect is dismissed out of hand and the company put on the "Do not buy list."

Having actually read who is put on the "Do not fly list" by the government, as explained by those on it, I have found it to be a matter of serious concern on the one hand, and malicious revenge on the other. I see much of the complaints about "Customer Service" in the same light - a horror story here and there, then closer examination reveals a few clues admitted by the owner which shed a different light. Frankly I don't put much repute into any of them as they are in every individual case exactly that, an example of just one in a sea of statistics.

And we all know you can make statistics say anything you want.

Tales of customer service run from "I need a new cupholder for my desktop computer!" to "My new gun exploded for no reason." I take them all with a grain of salt.

Only had issues with Rugers and S&W's.

Both companies took care of me.

I've only sent one back.

It was a Ruger and TOTALLY MY FAULT!

They fixed it and sent it back. No workie like I thought
it should.................

SO THEY SENT ME A BRAND NEW ONE. NO QUESTIONS ASKED!

I've had successful and satisfactory service from every gun manufacturer that I've dealt with, save for Ruger. I elaborated on that negative experience elsewhere, so I'll spare everyone.

Within my humble experience, our customer service satisfaction sometimes varies with the particular Customer Service person we happen to deal with. It's been that way for me. I've had good C.S. experience with S&W, Ruger, STI, and once with HK years ago. S&W in particular has really gone out of their way for me on more than one occasion. Not so positive experience with Colt C.S. Good and bad with SIG.....ymmv

I only dealt with Benelli once. The Vinci I bought shot 14" high at 40 yards out of box. I emailed Benelli and got a RA# in 3 days. I paid out bound shipping. The gun stayed with them for 6 weeks. They replaced forearm, put a new front bead with larger diameter, and test fired it at 21 yards. It shots 8" high at 40 yards now. It's workable for me since I like to float birds.

I had a stripped lower from Anderson that was machined wrong. The takedown pin hole and the hinge pin hole were too high, so the upper wouldn't fit flush with the lower. They would have been machined in the same setup, so they must have had a jig get out of line or a machinist was rushing and made a mistake. I emailed detailed pics and they called the same day and paid shipping both ways to inspect the original and send me a new one no charge. It took all of about 10days from first email to a new lower in my greasy little hands with emailed communication throughout. I was very pleased.

Ruger replaced a broken FP on my old used SBH .44mag @ no charge but I had to pay shipping to them.

Sig P938sas required 3 trips back for various issues, finally they replaced the pistol. All at no cost to me.

RIA replaced a broken recoil spring plug @ no charge on an old used 1911.

Taurus could not/would not send a firing pin hammer spur for my old Rossi revolver. My smith made one from a s&w hammer spur.

In general, I find manufacturers to respond well to a respectful phone call or email. I like email for the written record of all communications.

I've dealt with Remington, Springfield and Para Ordnance. Two and a half good experiences. Remington and Springfield were home runs. No muss, no fuss, got what I wanted for a fair price. Both were parts, one Remington part I broke and a Springfield part that was worn. Para Ordnance wasn't cooperative. Representative on the phone was great, but company policy wouldn't let him sell me a part. Disconnector was out of spec. and rubbing on the magazine inside the mag well. Para wanted me to send the pistol back on my dime. Nope.

Ruger was excellent. Beretta was pathetic, lying about known problems, begging me to break in for a longer period before returning it and then saying it was worn out and shouldn't be expected to last too long anyway (32 Tomcat). They lost the gun for a few months, then I tracked down the smith that was working on it. He told me that they had a problem with those guns cracking slides, a d that they'd replace it but it would still be crap. They came out with the beefier "Inox" shortly after shipping ours back, and quit selling the original design, but wouldn't admit they had a problem with slides cracking.

Had a hard time getting ahold of a person at Rossi to order a scope mount back in the day, but probably not an issue now that we have the internet.

My customer service experiences with both Ruger and Walther couldn't have been better. Each time I send a handgun back to them with a prepaid label that they sent me, guns came back within two weeks repaired at no cost. Both communicated by email that guns were received and again when shipping back to me.

Forgot to mention that the Walther P99 was over 12 years old at the time.

I had an issue with a stock that came in a trade deal. Plastic folding stock was for an SKS, made by ATI, not functioning properly. Called them, they requested I return it to them. Older model no longer being made, they replaced it free with a more expensive model. Good to deal with.