My experince with gun company customer service.

Customer Service to me is one of those areas you cannot skimp on. In fact, that is something that I want to excel at once my company is in full swing. Anyways, here's what I've dealt with:

Ruger - Was able to call and speak with a person very quickly, explained my problem (used P95DC, 9mm, guide rod broke). I had to pay for the part, $4.95, but they paid the shipping. To my surprise, they actually sent me the guide rod, some springs, and various little parts, and a manual. They seemed very eager to help out, and I really appreciated it. Pretty good in my book

Springfield Armory - I bought a new 1911 Loaded, went home and found that the mag would not stay in the mag well. Being this was my first expensive and new pistol, I immediately called CS to find out if what may be the problem, and if I could disassemble it without voiding the warranty (sounds silly, but hey). She asked what I have, and then she said she'll be right back she was going to pull one from stock to look at while I described the issue. Not only did they say I can tear it all the way down with no problem, but to let her know what I found so they can send me some parts for free. Ended up being some grease of some sort that had gunked up in the mag release. 1 q-tip later and it was working fine. Nonetheless, SA's customer service was very helpful, offered free parts, and was not bothered by me wanting to tear apart my own gun. Probably my favorite company when dealing with customer service.

Mossberg - My roommate had bought a Maverick 88/500 mix up of a shotgun. Had to ship the gun back to Mossberg, and about 4 weeks later, it came back working great. Mossberg customer service was pretty standard, other than that, I can't remember anything overly great or bad about them.

I'm trying to remember if there were anyone else I've dealt with before. I had my Stoeger shotgun repaired at Cabela's, and even though I didn't get to deal with the CS myself, it did seem it took awhile for the parts to come in. I won't hold Stoeger to blame for that but I do have to wonder.

-Eric

My experience, though limited:

S&W/Walther: Excellent+
Beretta: God-awful.

I've only had two guns needing warranty service, a Dan Wesson .357 revolver maybe 20 years ago or so that had chambers that looked like they were reamed with a dull drill bit running as fast as possible. Even average velocity loads were difficult to eject. Sent it to them, and although they said they'd fixed it the chambers looked the same to me, and ejection was still lousy.

Bought a Ruger P345 shortly after they came out. It developed a failure to fire problem. Called Ruger, told them the problem and that I'd been using handloads in it (they have no written warranty and specifically say to not use handloaded ammunition). The gentleman I talked to said send it in, we'll pay for shipping both ways. I did, they did, and it's worked like a charm since then.

So old Dan Wesson: Terrible

Ruger: Excellent

Glock: Poor

Click to expand...

They probably don't have much practice.

Colt-
I've repaired my own Colt problems for years. Loose plunger tubes and front sights, etc.,. The things they should of done right during production but I've taught myself to repair/replace.
The one time I needed Colt CS (for a sticky mag. release) I got screwed. Really flamed my butt.
They have a new CS rep. who posts at a 1911 related site and seems to be very helpful. Hearing some good things, but that ol' "Screw me once, shame on you, screw me twice, shame on me" comes to mind.

I contacted Remington once to ask them a particular question about a shotgun. I got an answer, but for some reason I contacted them again and got a different individual, and a different answer. I tried a 2 out of 3 approach and contacted them a third time. I got a third and still different answer.

I looked at those three answers and went with the one that I thought was probably right. It turned out to be wrong.

I've only dealt with Charter Arms. I bought a CA Undercover cheap at a gunshow, because it was missing some non-essential parts around the extractor rod. Gun still functioned.

A few years later I got around to ordering the parts. I called on a Monday at about quarter to five, East Coast Time. A real, live, English-speaking human picked up the phone on the second ring. The young lady was knowledgable and helpful.

In my experience with ordering parts on the phone (car, washer, vacuum cleaner, etc.) this would have gone into the next days business. There, it would have sat around for a day or two until someone got around to picking it, then languished in shipping waiting to be packed. Then, on to the shipper guy who, if he didn't lose that little envelope, would have sent it out tomorrah, the nex' day, I donno. USPS, THAT crapshoot? Anybody's guess.

Like I said, I called right before close of business on Monday, the parts arrived in my mailbox on Wednesday. Cross country.

I'd rate 'em pretty highly.

ed

Very best service I've ever had in firearm related businesses was LEUPOLD. I brought in a scope, they used to be just a few blocks from me, and was greated by a very courteous woman that got me the right person to talk to(also a woman) immediately. Up until this time I had had a low opinion of women in "mens" jobs! Boy did my opinion change that day!! This lady was well dressed,courteous, articulate, very professional and best of all really knew what she was talking about. The scope had been mounted on a very light 375 H&H mag with apreciable recoil. I didn't expect any warranty at all yet the lady said that it would be covered completely and it was. Got it back 2 days later completely repaired and now still functioning perfectly 30 years later. Leupold has my complete loyality because of the treatment I recieved with that one situation. I used to have several different brands of scopes but as they broke I replaced them with Leupolds. I now have 20 or so of them and they are great. Leupold's are great scopes but their customer service is the best I can imagine. Frank

Just had an experience with Rock Island. Good doesn't even begin to describe it. It seems to them me getting a new part for cosmetic reasons only was never even in doubt.

I myself don't care about warranty say beyond a year or so. And if you bought a firearm with a cosmetic issue if seeing it and the purchase up front shame on you. If you think your going to buy blind from Bud's or GB or thinking you got the best deal on earth. Shame on you.

I get no warm fuzzy knowing my fellow shooter is paying there part for say a life time S&W warranty. I would prefer to purchase a S&W NIB, retail or FFL and get a price break if I signed paper saying I refused the warranty and excepted a 3 year or 1 year term against the s/n.

S&W--outstanding. I bought an Airweight 396 that the prior owner had applied some sort of chemical to--messed up the finish on the frame. I called them asking about a re-finish, they said "send it in and we'll have a look". I sent it in, waited a week and called back. They told me it was on it's way back. It was indeed, it looked great, free of charge.

Kahr--very good. My PM9 had the infamous "barrel peening" issue. I called, talked to Dottie, who asked me to send it in. I asked if I could send the "top half". She said sure. I did, and they replaced all of it--barrel, slide, recoil assembly. Brandy-new night sights, too...got rid of the Big Dot that I had never warmed up to.

Para--very good. I was on a forum asking for advice on getting my used C-6 to function correctly. I received a pm from George Wedge, head of QC at Para, who had apparently been monitoring the board. He offered to fix it although I was not the original owner. I sent it in, they fixed it. I was very impressed.

Springfield--very good. My early EMP (serial number 1073) had every form of malfunction known to man. I called, they said to send it in. I did, twice. The second time they replaced it with s/n 2750. It went back twice too. Each time they sent it back I got another mag. It finally worked well, but I had lost faith and sold it. The new owner got five or six mags.

Kel-Tec--good. Owned one P-32, two P3ATs and a P11. Had issues with each. Got to know Bill at K-T pretty well, and he always sent the parts free of charge. Unfortunately, I never got the guns to acceptable level of reliablility and sold them, each with full disclosure and each at a significant loss.

Colt--no help at all. Rude and indifferent on the phone. I to a local gunsmith instead.

Dan Wesson/CZ--don't ask.

Here's my $.02 based upon personal experience:

H&K-By far the worst.
Beretta-Not much better than H&K
Ceasar Guerini (High quality O/U shotguns)-Excellent
Kreighoff-Excellent
Smith and Wesson-Very good
Colt-Left a voice mail and never got a call back
Remington-Very good
Earl's Repair Service (Walther importer, not really a manufacturer)-Excellent
Sig-Excellent

DC

CZ-excellent.
Had a problem with my pistol. Called on Thursday and got an RMA. Sent it in on Friday, had a brand new replacement in my hands by the following Friday.

From my experience:
Springfield - very good
Glock - good but very slow turn around
Taurus - never had any problems
Kimber - lets just say I'll never have another one.
Browning - very good.
Briley Mfg. - got personal service from the guy who builds the guns, just slow turn around.
Leupold - never a question, just fixed it and sent a note sorry for my inconvenience.

Leupold- Simply Awesome. New scope fogged up, they paid for overnight both ways, had a new scope in hand in less than 48 hours.

HK- Good. Thought I had some creep in my usp elite, sent it in, they said that was within spec, and updated the spring and sear to bring it to current spec and shipped it back for free.

Taurus - Worked on my dad's millienium's trigger, got it somewhat better, shipped it back, all for free. Also, ordered 6 mags for Pt-740 pistol in December, they arrived 2 weeks ago, but at least I have them now, and you can't buy those.

Ruger...Excellent!!!! Just don't send them a pistol that has any after-market parts in it, it'll come back Stock!

Hi-Point..Excellent!! 3 year old Carbine that locked up, got brand new gun!

Kel-Tec.....Very Good ! Replaced alot of parts N/C


Rock Island..Very Excellent!!!!!! Re-worked the whole gun and got 2 new mags N/C

Stoeger....Non-Existent!! Can't even get parts!:banghead:

Ruger = Excellent!

I have a pair of stainless Mini 14 GB's that were old police trade-ins. One of them was missing a rivet that holds the heat shield onto the hand guard. Called up Ruger, explained what was wrong, and attempted to order a new hand guard. The nice lady on the phone took down my address and said she'd send one right out away at no charge. I received it about a week later.

The other GB broke a firing pin while out on one of my shooting excursions. I boxed up the rifle with a letter explaining what was wrong and sent it off to their New Hampshire repair facility. Within two weeks I had my rifle back repaired at no charge with no questions asked. I was only out the $15 for shipping.

I'll add myself to Ruger's "Excellent to deal with list."

I do my research before buying a gun. So this one time I bought a Sig. P-250 on impulse. Got it home and then did the research. Would not have bought it if I had done the reading first. Took it to the range and had light primer strikes and some failure for the trigger to reset.
Called Sig yesterday. The cs guy was friendly, polite, and helpful. Said to send it in and e-mailed me a UPS label. Within a couple minutes the label was on my screen. At the same time I get a call from him. Oh yeah, I forgot to get your credit card # for the $55 charge for UPS.
Now I have to deal with UPS. The other time I was sending a gun back for repair they would not let me do it because I didn't have an FFL. Argued with the cleark. Her boss, his boss. Ended up taking it to a gun shop and having him send it back for me. Have not used them since. Now we shall see how it goes this time.

S&W - Excellent. Parts, CS, recall all handled professionally and they usually went above & beyond.
KelTek - Very good. Shipped parts very quickly.
Bushnell - Excellent. My cheap entry level scope was discontinued so no parts were available to repair what turned out to be a bent tube. They offered me a big discount on anything they make. Wound up with a high-end Elite for less than 1/2 of MSRP and it was in my hands in about 4 days. Still haven't seen one listed on the web for less than $300 more than I paid.
Legion USA - TBD but very slow so far.

Gotta disgree with you about Remington. First, the R-25 was shipped filthy from the manufacturer: To the point where the laser sighting round I chambered (long before going to the range) JAMMED, and had to be forced out.

Plus, when it started soft-striking 1 round in 4 after 300 to 400 rounds, all of which were either Remington or Wnchester OEMs, they refused to diagnose or repair the problem.

This thread raises a question. If the newer generation of firearms are so good, why are so many sent back for repairs? I'm still shooting firearms I bought in the 70s and have never sent one back.

"This thread raises a question. If the newer generation of firearms are so good, why are so many sent back for repairs? I'm still shooting firearms I bought in the 70s and have never sent one back. "

jhco50



BINGO!