Can I just BRING my Taurus in for warranty service?

[peacefuljeffrey]

I haven't called them on the telephone yet, so I was wondering what y'all think.

My Taurus needs warranty service, and since I live not far from their HQ in Miami, I was wondering if I could just BRING the gun to them, rather than have to pay a gun shop to SHIP it to them. Will the company allow me to do that? I'd rather make a day of it in Miami than wait for the time it takes to ship, plus the cost of the shipping.

Blue skies,
-Jeffrey

 

[Preacherman]

Problem is, you'd have to know where to take it... most companies aren't going to want you entering their main reception area carrying a gun, even if it is for repair. PC and all that...

 

[peacefuljeffrey]

Well, what I'm hoping for is to hear from someone who may have done what I'm asking about, or knows what Taurus's policy is about it. I'll call on Tuesday to find out. It's time I got this thing fixed. It works, just not as well as it should; but I've been putting this off for far too long.

BTW, this is a cylinder lockup problem, and it was present in the new-out-of-the-box gun! I was new to revolvers, but was feeling weird things (gas and lead escaping from the cylinder gap on firing, evidencing an improper alignment) and when I brought it to the gun shop counterman, he examined the gun and found the deficiency. I was surprised very much, since according to what I hear, Taurus has a good reputation. Such a problem for a NIB gun is not really acceptable, and I am going to expect prompt handling and an apologetic tone from Taurus...

-Jeffrey

 

[lbmii]

I took my Remington 710 in person the Remington Authorized Warranty center. It was literally an old shack out in the woods of southwestern Missouri complete with a mean old hound sleeping on the porch. The guy was like; “Who are and what do you want? Remington 710? Never heard of it. Aint got no parts for it! Well lay it down and I’ll see what I can do.†He made some modifications to it and now it works fine.

My Rossi 357 made by Taurus has a similar problem as yours. Out of the box it would lock up solid when fired. I shipped it to Miami last Friday.

 

[El Rojo]

Why do you have to take it to a FFL to send it in? I don't know about your state, but when my PT92C's locking block broke, I threw the handgun in a box and sent it to 'em back when I could get away with that via UPS for about $9.50. They sent it back to me as good as new and the UPS guy left it on my door step!

Check your laws, but I am fairly certain if you are sending the firearm back to the manufacturer for service or any FFL dealer/gunsmith for service, you do not have to make a transfer.

I too would just call them and ask. They might go for it if you tell them you will pick it up too. It saves everyone money.

 

[peacefuljeffrey]

Rojo,
One big aspect I want to avoid is the paying to ship it thing.
And I know that a few years ago UPS started giving gun owners a hard time or something, so I don't want to throw business to them.

And did you say that they left your HANDGUN IN A BOX ON YOUR DOORSTEP?!

That's not a very persuasive argument in favor of using UPS to send guns back and forth.


-Jeffrey

 

[lbmii]

I sent my Rossi through UPS and called it "machine parts". It cost me $7.70 for UPS ground.

I think you could just swing by the warranty place and drop it off. What are they going to do? Not take it? I would not worry about it.

 

[Mr. Mysterious]

A company worth their salt will give you a prepaid FedEx or UPS shipping tag if you call them for warranty work. I called Smith and Wesson when my SW99 was having trouble and 4 days latter I had a FedEx next day air tag in my mail box, sent of the .45 a couple days later and two weeks after that it was fixed good as new.

The way I think about it is say you buy a gun for $450, it costs you $30 so ship it, that is nearly 7% of the price you paid for the gun, to get the gun fixed in the warranty period. Pretty unacceptable.

The same holds true for good gun shops. A good shop will ship it for you while it is covered under the warranty if you buy a gun from them.

 

[duckslayer]

lbmii,

Remington has many Authorized Warranty Centers. They contract with gunsmiths to do a lot of the warranty work for them. It only goes back to Remington if they have to do some extensive work, such as making a new bolt so they can control the headspace, etc.

I don't have any first hand experience, but I don't see why they would object to you taking the gun into their shop if it needs repair. You can't shoot anyone with a broken gun!