Extreamly bad Service from Smith & Wesson

[TexasBill]

I've always had great service from Smith & Wesson. The "Hilary Hole" doesn't bother me as I never use it. I don't care what they did to stay in business during the Clinton era. I also don't care what Bill Ruger did. I am buying a gun, not politics, and I am really bad about boycotts, from table grapes to TV shows.

 

[22-rimfire]

If I had to guess, the majority don't send in for their rebates. I know on the last two cell phones I purchased, there were $50 rebates on each and I didn't bother and I misplaced the paperwork.

Rebates take time.

 

[REAPER4206969]

Amazing service! I said I need a new striker, he said name and address?
Less then 45 seconds! Here is the line you need to call: 1-800-331-0852 Extension-2904

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=510762&page=2

 

[Warhawk83]

Originally posted by mljdeckard

Is it possible that SOMEONE ELSE ALONG THE CUSTODY CHAIN of the rifle already snatched the code and redeemed it to get some free mags? Just sayin'.

+1 to that.

A few years ago I bought some new goodyears for my truck and was supposed to receive a $50 gas card. 1 month, no gas card, 2 months, 3 months,no gas card.Through the course of the investigation, it was for some reason shipped to the tire store rather than my address. So basically a tire jockey got a tank of gas on me.

 

[Kingofthehill]

I spent $1,100 on a M&P AR-15 Magpul edition. The buffer tube's threads were messed up and they said contact Magpul. magpul said contact Smith or the shop i bought it from... the shop said contact smith. Smith said no go and i offered to buy the replacment part and they said they don't sell it and to contact Magpul... called magpul to BUY the part and they only sell it complete with the Stock so they wouldn't help me either and said to contact Smith to see if they had a spare laying around.

I have 9 S&W's right now, i'll never buy another.

JOe

 

[Deanimator]

I spent $1,100 on a M&P AR-15 Magpul edition. The buffer tube's threads were messed up and they said contact Magpul. magpul said contact Smith or the shop i bought it from... the shop said contact smith. Smith said no go and i offered to buy the replacment part and they said they don't sell it and to contact Magpul... called magpul to BUY the part and they only sell it complete with the Stock so they wouldn't help me either and said to contact Smith to see if they had a spare laying around.

I have 9 S&W's right now, i'll never buy another.

Find a lawyer who'll write you a threatening letter for a nominal fee. Odds are they'll cave. It's S&W's product and their warranty of merchantability. Of course the shop sold you supposedly defective merchandise. If there hasn't been an unreasonable lapse in time, they're probably on the hook to take it back or exchange it.

 

[SwampWolf]

Regarding the long-standing grudges held against S&W, Ruger (and others, I suppose) for their admittedly inexcusable past misdeeds, geez guys, get a life and move on. If we can forgive the Japanese and the Germans, it would seem that we could grant clemency for a couple of gun companies who have apparently seen the error of their ways and have been rehabilitated.
Like it or not, we're all in this fight together to save our right to keep and bear arms and, to me at least, it seems wise to restore and nurture friendships in the firearm community rather than nurse old grievances at the cost of forever fracturing our unity.
Hope to see some of you at the NRA Convention in Charlotte come May!

 

[Deanimator]

Regarding the long-standing grudges held against S&W, Ruger (and others, I suppose) for their admittedly inexcusable past misdeeds, geez guys, get a life and move on.

I said I'd never buy a new Ruger as long as Bill Ruger lived. He's dead, so if I had a job (and a place to shoot a rifle), I'd buy one of their piston ARs.

S&W doesn't currently make any revolver I'd own, and that's what they make that I'd possibly want. I buy nothing but handguns and all of the S&Ws I've bought have been revolvers. Other than my Model 17, they all have a secondary self-defense application. I would NEVER trust my life to a S&W revolver with the lock. It's a lousy design and S&W shouldn't be rewarded for producing a lousy product.

 

[grilledcheese]

I purchased a M&P 15 from CDNN in December, and sent in the free mag offer a week later. Brochure said eight to ten week delivery time, and the mags showed up at nine weeks.

Guess I got lucky for once.

Oh, and I'm fairly certain I DID NOT use frankd4's serial number...





Jeffrey

 

[eye5600]

Regarding customer service from all companies, y'all might be seeing an effect of the Obama-boom in sales. If they sell 50% more guns, there are going to get 50% more service calls. Actually, they may get more than 50% more since so many of the extra buyers were first-timers.

Not to say they shouldn't staff up for it, but there are problems with that. Telephone reps are not too hard to find, but they have to be trained. If they could get a new gunsmith for, say, fixing revolvers, they would have to find a bench, and tools, and whatever. Plus traingin, plus subervision. And they know they are going to want to shrink the CS operation down again in a year. Bottom line is they ramp up late, and not enough. More mistakes are made, and service times get longer.

 

[351 WINCHESTER]

Years ago I sent them a worn out 66. They replaced the barrel & cylinder free. About 10 years ago I sent them a 63 that needed some work and they charged me. The work was done correctely, but so much for their lifetime warranty.

 

[earlthegoat2]

http://www.thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=401969

 

[Defense Minister]

The whole S&W mag rebate thing has frustrated me in the past, too, although it was with an M&P40. Try emailing them instead of calling. It worked for me. And, if you haven't noticed, more and more companies are forcing customers to go to their computers if they want customer service, like it or not. It's just the way the world works these days.

 

[SMMAssociates]

Defense Minister:

I'm a "night people", and at 0400 I'd rather send an e-mail than try to call somebody. Either you get a help desk in Mumbai, or a recording (maybe on your nickel) suggesting you call back at some hour when you're likely going to be asleep....

My only problem is that the e-mail support people may not be a lot better than the folks in Mumbai.

Many decades ago, a friend was having problems with CompuServe. He e-mailed tech support: "I'm able to send e-mail, and access other forums, but I can't get SHEEPFORUM' to work." Their response: "Check your modem settings."

This sort of thing seems to happen to me all the time. Three or four messages to convince 'em that there's actually a problem, and, often, to tell them what it actually is. The other day I got a bill from FedEx for $40-ish. About $10 more than the last shipment of the same check to the same address in the same FedEx envelope. An e-mail complaint resulted in "check our e-mail estimator", which, btw, agreed with me. When I told 'em that I'd be calling another shipper, a supervisor turned up and fixed the thing....

I really shouldn't have to take the time to teach 'em....

But, yeah, it's easier for me to do this by e-mail....

Downside, of course, is a buddy of mine who's nominally a gun collector and, when it's working, really doesn't understand how to get his e-mail off his computer. His brother insisted that he get one....

(The FedEx thing - my sister would be late for her own funeral, and I'm handling some bank accounts for mom that result in me sending her checks she uses for rent. Naturally, she needs 'em overnight by the time she remembers to pay said rent.... Someday....)

Regards,

 

[el gato]

I am beginning to think this is an industry wide problem. Have you tried Sig yet? Dont hold your breath waiting on someone to call you back.

 

[Gouranga]

I would use email. it may be a pain but one thing email does do, is give you a trail in case it goes really south. Then you are not in a court room playing he said/she said. You are showing sets of emails detailing how you tried to solve the problem without the courts and how you were treated each way.

Put yourself clearly in the CC on the email, the may get the message just from that.

The situation you describe is common. I work in IT consulting and a LOT of clients i go to suck at CS. A lot of them not "deliberately", but because of a total breakdown/disconnect between their front line support and management. It costs them tons of dollars and the biggest issue ends up being that the problem is organic (human based) in nature and not easily solved. I would try email, OR another route. Call the S&W sales department. Tell them what has been happening and how you are going to be holding off on any future S&W purchases until someone can take care of you.

Sales departments have completely different motivations than CS.

 

[Guy B. Meredith]

My experience with S&W has been excellent. But then, I've not been to them often as my revolvers don't seem to break.

I think that "deal with the devil" stuff is drivel. S&W lavishly supports the firearms sports. I have participated in the International Revolver Championship matches and the prize table looks like a major gun shop's inventory of S&W product. I have a PC 627 V-comp and M66 from their largess.

 

[Lee Roder]

My service experience with S&W has also been less than stellar.

My revolver's been back for broken studs, yes two of them. So far.

First time, trigger stud broke, cost me $40 to fix under their Lifetime Warranty. More recently the hammer stud broke! Charge this time was only $0 but I had to call over month later to track the gun. Found it hadn't been shipped yet. Next day I had it.

Long story short, while the stud repair was good, my "custom" bead blasted cylinder had been replaced with an old stock stainless one my gun originally had. My fault I know now but I was in a hurry to meet FEDEX's deadline the day I broke the gun and shipped it back to Mass. You know this but I'll say it here just for the record - NEVER EVER EVER SEND THEM ANYTHING YOU WANT TO KEEP! Both times I paid shipping one way, either to (expensive) or from (cheap).

To date, my recoil slide and cylinder stop studs has managed to stay strong. Knock on wood

 

[Oregun89]

I have had nothing but great service from S&W in regards to my Walther P99. Just a few weeks ago I called to order the sight retaining pin which I had carelessly broke. The man on the phone took my info and mailed me the part. I was probably on the phone for less than a minute. The part came in a few days at no cost to me.

 

[eschang1]

I've had perfect service with S&W. My 1911 was shooting high and to the right. The set screw for the rear sight was stripped so I could not drift it. I didn't want to drill it out and risk damaging the gun, so I called S&W. They sent me a prepaid return label and I shipped the gun. A few weeks later (because of Christmas/holiday closure), my gun came back with an extra magazine, new grips, and front night sight. It also shot perfectly straight. No complaints.

 

[c919]

Well, I'm sorry you had this problem, but I feel quite confident that S&W will make it right. They always have for me.

And hey, be glad you went w/ the M&P. It's an awesome gun.

 

[SMMAssociates]

My M&P40 (more of a range gun for me than anything else) arrived with both front and rear sights mis-aligned. I fixed 'em myself.... Doesn't look too bad ....

Really don't know what they were thinking.... The gun shot way to the left, and I finally looked.... I prefer 1911's for carry, but I can see why the M&P is so popular.

Many years ago, now, I blew up a Combat Commander for the second time, and sent it to Colt (by way of my dealer) to see if they would certify it, and perhaps fix the problem.

(I'd defined the problem for them - the frame was damaged or mis-machined. It was OK for light loads, but couldn't handle ordinary loads without trashing the barrel.)

Their response was to quote me about $400 to remove all the aftermarket parts and replace them with "genuine Colt", and then wouldn't warrant that the gun wouldn't pop again, 'cause they weren't going to try to fix the frame....

(Note that this gun was willed to me, the guy who owned it was into custom target loads, and I didn't expect a freebie.)

They sent my dealer a letter to that effect, and held onto the gun for a response. My dealer, naturally, forgot to tell me about it.... About another month later I got it back....

What frosted me, of course, was the idea that all they were willing to do was to undo what had been done to the gun, and that was all essentially cosmetic in terms of the frame problem.... Insisting on changing the tires because a car won't start....

I think I mentioned my buddy's new Kimber (4" "Commander"-sized Series II) going back four times. Each time they fixed all kinds of unrelated things, but never quite go around to the real problem. The gun wouldn't return to battery properly due to the Swartz Safety mechanism.... He finally just decided to "wear it in", and put another 500 rounds or so through it. It now works quite well, but he won't wear it.

Regards,

 

[mxl]

Learn how to spell "extreme".