Broken Kimber
I purchased a Kimber Eclipse Target II about 2 years ago. At first it shot pretty well, then it turned ugly(I owned the pistol for about 1 week when this first started). It started jamming at least once every magazine I fed it. I tried different ammunition, still jammed. I went through about 7 different brands of ammo, even the good stuff, and it still would jam. I contacted the factory and they told me to send it in, but I wasnt aware that I had to pay for the shipping to them because of warranty repairs, I thought they furnished that for me, well , I was wrong and our local fedex was the only place that would ship a firearm, but it had to be over night, and that was $55. Well, about 5-6 weeks later, I get my pistol back, and the tag on it says repaired. Well, I was extatic, I got my pistol back and now I can get back to carrying it, Not really. Same problem.....JAMS! I contacted them again, they said the same thing, send it to them. So, like an idiot, I spent another, un-refunded, $55 shipping bill to get my pistol back to them. Another 4-5 weeks later, I get it back, again it says repaired. I went out to shoot it, this time it made it to the second magazine and then jammed. I called Kimber.....again. I asked them if I could get a refund because I was tired of dealing with this. They said no, and the only thing they could do was try to fix it again. I took the pistol to my local gun shop to have them look at it. They told me that the reason my Kimber wasnt functioning was because Kimber had bought out Auto Ordanance and was using their parts in their Kimber slides to save money. I dont know if this is true or not, but something was wrong. I decided the best approach was to sit down and write a letter to the President of Kimber, so I did. I was civil, but I went to my point. I told him that I could have bought 2 Glocks for the price I spent on this Kimber. I wasnt griping to him or ranting, I just told him that If something was going on under me that wasnt right, I would want to know about it. About a week after I sent the letter. I got a phone call from the preseident of Kimber. He is a really nice guy and he understood everything. He asked me what he could do to fix the problem , I again stated I would like to have a refund, again I was denied. I wasnt really mad at this point, just sick of having a very nice, over priced pistol from a company that was very highly recommended to me. I took the pistol back to the store I purchased it at and I traded it in for a Glock 22 and some extras for it. In all , I lost about $400 off of the trade....but at least I had a pistol that I knew would work. I know that there are mistakes and there are rotten apples, but I am in a business where my life may very well depend on the weapon I carry. I just thought I would share my story with you and to let you know , you werent alone.