Best company to deal with?

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eastwood44mag

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Everybody has their own horror stories about the factory who refused to fix their piece, or they sing praises about those who would. So, what companies are good for repair/warranty/customer service, and which will make you pay through the nose?

Thanks, all.
 
Springfield Armory for me, hands-down.
Once got a pistol back from them for warranty work within 2 weeks, over a holiday weekend to boot, with some extra work thrown in, hadn't been asked for, for free ... Custom work is not cheap, but the Custom Shop does a terrific job. Warranty work is free, and SA is very fast. Good phone service.

Smith and Wesson is pretty good, not quite as fast as SA. Friendly.

Heard some good things from friends about Ruger's recent customer service, no personal experience.

Had one quite positive and very fast response from Taurus (sent me a replacement part, asked for by phone, for free -- got to me within 3 days).

For accessories, Hogue has been friendly, efficient and fast.
 
My only personal experience is with Ruger and Kahr and they have both been positive. poppy
 
Since Browning bought out Winchester, service work is done through Browning. Browning has no service department. They have contracted an independent shop do their service work. When I had to send in a new Win O/U last year, it was returned a couple of months later with no attempt to fix it. They simply don't care about customer satisfaction.

Several years ago, I had to send a new Ruger Mark II back twice before it worked. After the first "fix", it was even more screwed up but second time around they got it right.

A long time ago, I sent a 742 to Rem back to the factory. After several months and a lot of nastygrams from me they finally fixed it. I suspect they lost it at the factory and it took a lot of nagging for them to either find it and fix it or to replace it.

I've never had to send a Marlin or S&W back.

Colt is slow as Christmas but they eventually make everything right.

Long story short. It's the luck of the draw and you better hope you don't have to send any gun in for warranty repair. Of the lot, my experiences with Winchester/Browning have been much the worst.
 
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Badlands Backpacks of salt lake city utah have a permanent unconditional warranty, meaning they will promptly fix any of there backpacks, regardless of the problem, and regardless of if you are the original owner or the 5th owner.

I have heard Buck knives have a fairly good warranty for original purchasers. I once read that a guy had a broken buck knife, contacted the company, explained he wanted to fix it himself, and they sent him the parts for free. As I recall from the packaging when I bought a buck 110, Chuck Buck's appointed company president is God, and I think that theory has driven him to strive for extreme customer satisfaction.

Speaking of extreme satisfaction, I would suspect that Wilson Combat lives up to that reputation when it comes to pleasing customers. I know a guy with a CQB, and of course its never jammed, so he's never had any reason to test their promptness fixing it, but I've certainly never heard anybody complain about Wilson Combat's service.
 
Dillon. :)

And not because of the free parts. The parts aren't really free...you know!!

The way they handle customers, problems etc. They will spend as much time on the phone as you need. You can e-mail them or look at their 'guides' online. They will send you updated manuals in the mail if needed, etc. Or, send them the machine and they will fix it in a timely fashion.

Free or not, you can tell his people have been "trained" in customer service and know what they are talking about... a rare combination.
 
Savage is great, in a coupla weeks I'll know how Kahr/Auto Ordinance treated me...
SatCong
 
For handguns, I've had excellent customer service from: Heritage Manufacturing - they rebuilt an abused single action .22 revolver at no charge and not the original owner either!, North American Arms - for free upgrade and quick custom fit of optional cylinder, Kahr - for replacing a pin that kept walking out of the nickeled K-9 pistol, Kimber - for replacing some worn parts for the asking, and Glock for a cracked frame replacement (not E series).

Colt finally sent a replacement mainspring housing (plastic) but was more of a hassle to deal with to get such a simple (cheap) part - they had to recieve the cracked one and check it before they would replace it and this was off of the Sheriff's primary pistol....the irony (funny part) of it is that the Sheriff had to carry a Glock 21 while his steel horse was waiting on a plastic part ! :uhoh: :rolleyes:

I've got a friend who has received excellent service from Dillon. Also, I sent his severly worn Buck knives in for repair and he got brand new ones in return.
 
A few miniutes ago I found out about another rather nice company to deal with. I have an older Gerber covert from when they were made of ATS-34. The pivot pin screw things would always get loose, and being a younger, stupider version of me back then, I kept tightening them all the time until the allen heads were stripped out. I took it apart and replaced the pin with a nut and bolt, something that doesn't work very well, and its been sitting in that condition for a long time. To top that off, I even lost its secondary locking mechanism. Well, this nice lady over at Gerber said send it over, they'll fix it up, no cost to me other than shipping it to them, they ship it back. Not bad for a problem that was entirely my fault. When it comes back, I'll post an edit about how they did.
 
Just thought of something, but I sent an OLD Weaver scope back to the factory once for repair. It'd lost its N2 and was all fogged up. The original Weaver no longer exists, part of the CCI/Speer conglomerate, but they still repair 'em in El Paso and it was prompt.

I had one of the cheaper Simmons scopes on my 7 mag, which of course went to squat with all the recoil. I found a deal on a Weatherby Supreme scope for that rifle and sent the Simmons off. It came back functioning fine, but I put it on a .22. If it gets recoiled to death on the .22, I'll just throw it in the trash, LOL! SIMMONS, never again!
 
In my experience: Ruger, Colt, Kel-Tec, Kimber. Did I list Ruger yet? :)

And an honorable mention to the parts department guys at Sako/BerettaUSA for finding me a trigger mounting bolt for a Finnfire and not making me buy an entire 'trigger group kit' or somesuch. I needed one for the guy who was selling me a couple of Jewell triggers.

For exceptionally polite and efficient service, I'd like to mention GueriniUSA. I called them about having the ejectors on my father's new 28 ga. changed to extractors. The helpful person who answered the phone said the person I needed to speak to would get back to me as soon as he finished with a customer in the showroom. A short while later the owner/importer called me. They had the gun back in a week.

John
 
My ruger Mini 14 Ranch Rifle boke its firing pin - I have no real idea how many thousands of rounds I've shot through it - and I found out that part is only sold by being fitted at the factory. I sent it in and, in a couple of weeks, it was returned with a new bolt. The only thing it cost me was the charge for sending it in.

I've had good service from XS Sights, Williams Sights, Midway, Natchezz, and Brownells also (as well as others).

:) :D
 
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Backfired said:
Since Browning bought out Winchester, service work is done through Browning. Browning has no service department. They have contracted an independent shop do their service work. When I had to send in a new Win O/U last year, it was returned a couple of months later with no attempt to fix it. They simply don't care about customer satisfaction.
Click to expand...

So I have to ask: Is this still the place in Arnold Missouri?
If so,these are the ones who damaged my HiPower during their first "repair" lasting 7 weeks. When they got it back and did not fix a thing. If they are "gunsmiths",Al Gore did develope the Internet.They can't unroll toilet paper.
I had to send it to Browning Headquarters twice after that. Browning finally bought it back from me. No Brownings for me again.
 
Springfield Armory and Kimber are in a dead heat for the sorriest customer service on the planet.

I have sent two 1911s back to Springfield Armory over the past few years for problems with jamming. They were both returned promptly, but with the same problem. They didnt fix either. Both times I called them back, told them the problem was the same. Sent both back again. Both times they came back with the same jamming problem.

I sent a Kimber Ultra compact back a few years ago for jamming problems. I forget the name of the guy I spoke to on the phone. He had a terrible NY accent, and was very rude, even by NY standards. They couldnt fix their gun either, despite keeping it for about 2 months.

Thanks to this, I absolutely, positively would never even remotely consider buying a 1911 from either of these two manufacturers.

I eventually ended up with a Smith and Wesson 1911. I can't comment on S&W's customer service because I have never needed it. The gun actually worked the way it was supposed to!
 
Ruger for me. Had a bad slide release on a P89 I bought second hand. Called and the part was in my hands in 2 days, no questions asked. First class customer service.
 
Lightning Arms Sports , Craig and Audrey are the best.
Dillon, excellent CS across the board, they pick and train their people well.

Only had to use CS at Midway-USA a couple of times, excellent service both times. It's a small sample or I'd rate them along with my favorites.
 
Like OLD DOG said... Taurus.

I don't own one of their pistols right now, but I broke a Taurus Nickle Model 66, 6", .357mag.

I BROKE IT. HOT LOADS. MY FAULT!! I bought it used. Pawnshop special. I miss that pistol. But a good friend is very happy with it.

I sent it to them, they fixed it, (replaced the frame lock), free of charge in about ten days mid-summer. NOW THAT's SERVICE.

Recently I've had some really good correspondence with KIMBER. Multiple emails in one day. Not a sales guy either.

Sometimes, just getting someone to discuss an issue (or in my case, no fault of the firearm issue), with you is half the battle.

I have a friend that was traveling through Oregon, and stopped in to drop off an old Leupold scope. One of the cross hairs had snapped, (yes, I said old). They promptly handed him a new scope, of much later design.

I've been to Dillon in AZ. That's not a store... It's a CANDY FACTORY! . They'll give you a complete tour of the manufacturing facility. The instructed me how to install some 550B addon's for my old 450. Truly costomer service oriented.

-Steve
 
I've only had to deal with a couple companies over the years, and both were for very minor things, but both SIG and Trijicon have been very good.
 
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