My experince with gun company customer service.

[MachIVshooter]

I usually repair my own firearms, and have only ever sent in two guns for warranty; A first gen P3AT for the mag catch and a NAA mini .17 HMR that was keyholing.

Kel-Tec was excellent (big surprise, right?). Paid shipping, no questions, gun fixed. 3 weeks total.

NAA was also excellent. Paid shipping, 2 week turn around, new .22 WMR gun received w/.22 LR cylinder

However, I have dealt with many companies ordering replacement parts and accessories, and with general questions about products.

Kel-Tec: Still excellent. Replacement recoil springs and small parts that I'd lost sent at no cost, accessories ordered with no hassle and received promptly. My rating: A+

S&W: General Questions and accessories only. Minimal holding, very freindly and helpful. My rating: A+

Armalite: Questions, accessories, gen II mag upgrade parts for AR-10. No hold time or transferring, knowledgeable, friendly and helpful reps. My rating: A+

Remington: General questions and parts (no lock bolt shrouds). Minimal holding, friendly and knowledgeable staff. My rating: A

EAA: They were professional and polite, but not extremely friendly. No holding for accessories and parts ordering, some for questions. My rating: B

Winchester: Replacement parts, spent some time holding, took awhile to get what I was after, not the friendliest folks ever, but not bad. My rating: B-

Ruger: Parts, general questions. Transferred me around and kept me on hold forever, only to flat out refuse to sell me the parts I needed in a very rude manner with a "we don't care how you feel about us, we have other customers" attitude. My rating: F

I've called several other companies for a number of reasons, but it's been long enough that my memory is too hazy to accurately grade them. That said, none of the others have stood out as especially good or bad, just average.

 

[xsquidgator]

Springfield has been very good to me.
I bought a used SA 1911 and the hammer strut cracked after 400 rounds. Their customer service rep hooked me up in a 3-way phone call with a repair guy who analyzed the problem (he ID'd it as the hammer strut), he told the CS rep it was under warranty, and 10 minutes later I had the FedEx shipping labels via email. I had the fixed gun back in my hands two weeks later.

I, too, now own a half dozen Springfields of one kind or another.

 

[Barr]

Mossberg - Average, had to return a shotgun twice that still had issues. Ended up getting my money back from the store.
Smith-Wesson - Very good, replaced a J-frame cylinder that was my fault for minimal cost to handfit and time it.
Dan Wesson - Very good, paid for shipping both ways and replaced cylinder slide stop/swinging barrel link.

 

[leadaddict]

+1 for Walther/S&W - I had a Walther P22 that I couldn't get through a full magazine without jams regardless what ammo I tried. They were very helpful and prompt. The gun did feed much better after it was returned, but I ended up trading it away. Not my favorite gun, but it left me with a very positive experience with their CS.

 

[Flynt]

S&W -- good, fast & fair
Sig -- ditto
Weatherby -- I bought a new Vanguard Sub-MoA; complained that the trigger was gritty & creepy. They sent me to a local factory-authorized smith who did a trigger job.

 

[Viper]

I've got a few:

Kahr: I bought a used PM45 that was in excellent shape and performed flawlessly, but it had a scratch on the slide. Called Kahr and told them it was used - they said send it back and paid shipping. Got it back in one week with a new slide, new recoil assy, and a freshly polished ramp - no charge.

SA: Bought a new Loaded Ultra Compact 1911 on line. It arrived with a scratch on the SS. replaced in 10 days and they paid shipping.

S&W: I bought a police trade-in 4043, but thought the DAO trigger was too hard. Sent it back on their nickel and got it back with a much smoother and lighter trigger. No charge.

SIG: I bought a used [Police trade-in?] 14 year old nickel P220. I called about new night sights. I paid shipping, $55 round trip, and got the pistol back with SIG LITES, all new springs, ultra-sonic cleaning, polished, and zeroed in for the price of the sights.

Taurus: After having a very good compact 24/7 Pro 45, I took a chance and bought a new PT745. 270 rounds on the first range trip w/25% FTFeeds and FTE's. I sent it back and they kept it six weeks. When I got it back the FTE's were cured, but the FTFeeds were worse. I traded in on a great compact M&P 45, and took a considerable loss.

 

[Obsidian]

To date I have only had to deal with Remington..
And it was horrid. I sent in a brand new rifle for headspace issues.
Got it back with no change in it and the service was the worst I have had with any company ever, with the exception of Dell Computers.

 

[makarovnik]

Good info. Keep it coming. Very few of my guns have needed to be sent in:

Hi-Point - Excellent
Taurus - Pooh
Bersa/ Firestorm - Excellent
Phoenix Arms - pooh
Davis/ Cobra - Good
Jennings/ Jimenez - OK
Auto Ordinance - Pooh
Marlin - Excellent

Except for the Auto Ordnance my more expensive pieces have been good right out of the box. Some of my cheaper guns had problems right out of the box like my Hi-Point. My Jennings, Davis and Phoenix Arms were good out of the box but had parts breakage down the road.

 

[AirForceShooter]

Springer.
the rear sight lost a pin. Called the fantastic Debby and at first she said send the slide, we'll fix it.
Then she had a second thought and told me to send the whole gun. They hadn't seen it for a while and wanted to check the whole thing.

Can't get better.

AFS

 

[RyanAnchors]

Spike's in Florida is A+
Crossbreed Holsters is A+
CMP is A+ (not really a company, but still)
Ruger is A+
Lancaster (AK pattern rifles) is not very good.
CCWSupply.biz has a terrible rep and the guy currently owes me $16 or a wallet, whichever comes first. Wish I had googled them first.

Trying to remember more, but I'm really tired and haven't slept yet.

 

[K9american]

Colt - Great

SA - Great

Wolff Gun Springs - Excellent

Kimber - Excellent

 

[exavid]

I had a good experience with Taurus. Polite people on the phone, shipping lable sent to me via Fedex and reasonably fast turnaround.
NAA provided excellent service above and beyond. I had an old mini .22WMR revolver which I sent to them for a free replacement of the cylinder for their newer 'safety cylinder'. When I got it back from them the only original parts in the pistol was the frame. They'd replaced the barrel, trigger, all moving parts and springs and the grips and refinished the frame. Basically it came back a brand new revolver.

 

[JustinJ]

Many manufacturers whose guns tend to have issues will provide lifetime warranties to try and offset bad reputations, IMO. Also IMO, the warranty makes no difference if you actually need the gun to work so for a SD gun the warranty is very low on my list of priorities.

I had to send my sig556 in for repair. They paid shipping both ways but did not tell me to drop it off at a main hub and to claim it as a firearm. UPS claimed to have lost it but i'm pretty sure was holding in to verify everything was legit as it turned up a few days later. I didn't much care for the Sig rep's attitude on the phone as he acted annoyed when i mentioned what i suspected the issue to be.

 

[sidibear]

Competitor. Nearly two years wait for a small part to be sent, still not got it.

 

[MarkDozier]

Keltec - excellent. called them 3 times. last time spring messed up. The swend me new springs the guns rocks.

Marlin - called about new gun I had just bought. Tell the lady the problem they paid UPS both ways. Follow up call to see why it is taking 6 weeks they tell me they are waiting for me replacement gun to come in.
Good job Marlin

 

[eazyrider]

I was given a S&W Sigma 380 without the breakdown tool. I called the company and the lady who answered had one in her desk, she sent it to me at no cost whatsoever. Really impressed me.

My Remington 870 had problems and I sent it back. The kept it for 6 weeks then returned it and so far it has run right. They really didn't do anything special, just fixed a brand new gun.

 

[langenc]

Anybody have any experience with Weatherby?--frompost #9

Several years ago, before brass became scarce at ranges , I asked to buy some of Weatherbys test firing brass.

No deal. Midway had a bunch about a month later. Have never seen it listed for sale since. I bought 100 257 cases. A buddy suggested I should have got more. Called back the next day-too late-all gone.

 

[MachIVshooter]

Many manufacturers whose guns tend to have issues will provide lifetime warranties to try and offset bad reputations, IMO.

Chrysler offers a lifetime powertrain warranty, Kia does not. Who do you think is building better cars?

Lifetime warranties on expensive things that are expected to be used for many, many years are more an indicator that the company expects them to last and wants to keep a customer happy regardless of what happens. Guns are not like a fly swatter or can opener or some other cheap household impliment that you just replace for a couple dollars when it breaks regardless of warranty because a couple bucks isn't worth the hassle.

Just about every American gun company has some sort of limited lifetime warranty. Some of them are virtually unconditional and will even cover misuse/abuse/lost parts (Kel-Tec).

It costs them money to warranty guns, even if the parts cost pennies, because they're still paying shipping. It's something they'd rather avoid.

 

[pittspilot]

S&W. Very good. No cost shipping and work was first rate. Took a little long, but gun did need refinishing.

STI. Excellent. Paid shipping and very fast turnaround.

Dan Wesson. Marginal. Gun went back 5 times and never worked. Tried to quit on me, and I had to fight to make them make it right.

Les Baer. Terrible. Will never purchase an LB again even though I love the one I own.

Charter Arms. Not great. Took forever, and I had to pay shipping.

Kel-tec. Two times back was enough for a gun they never got working. Fortunately my lgs made it right.

 

[Kendal Black]

Bought parts from Ruger: Polite and prompt. Their policy of not selling certain parts is working against them, of course. Let's say I want a back-of-beyond kit of spare parts. SOL!

 

[wideym]

The shop also has a Henry .22mag lever action that had been in the back of the boss's office for about 3 years. A customer bought it new and returned it threating to sue us because it shot powder out the back around the hammer directly in the face.

I guess it eventually nothing came of it, but the boss held onto it just in case it went to court. I test fired it (keeping it well away from my face and wearing heavy duty goggles) and sure enough it shot powder out the back (did sting my neck pretty good though).

Called Henry, describing the problem and they promptly sent a shipping label and promised to cover all repairs or replacement.

Also the Auto Ordance M1 carbine was supposed to arrive to day, but I missed the delivery (required signature). They will try again monday.

 

[bigred0383]

Customer Service I have dealt with directly:

S&W: Very Good

Springfield: Very Good

Beretta: Average

Kimber: Mediocre

Glock: Poor

 

[wideym]

The Auto Ordance M1 carbine arrived today along with a letter describing what was done with it. Invoice said: inspected, polished bolt, reciever, and chamber, oiled, testfired, ok.

That said, I decided to test fire it anyway before I gave it back to my niece. It failed to fire 10 times out of 15 using commercial ammo. I then took it to a local gunsmith I know who had headspace guages for the carbine. It turns out that headspace is extreamly excessive. I wonder why the factory didn't check headspace, or if they did then why did they send it back to me?

From now on I will not recommend Auto Ordance to any of our customers unless they fix the problem, and that says a lot since we sell the most guns in the state of Arkansas, new and used.

 

[Nushif]

I really haven't had that much experience ... I guess I pick my guns well. 8)

Kahr:
Slow, not transparent and on one occasion they flat-out lied to me. I love the guns. I don't like the CS. I don't appreciate being handed off, hung up on and lied to just to get me off their backs.

EAA:
Slow ... like ... one month slow with two weeks of trying to get in touch with them. They're not so much bad as they're behind the times and overwhelmed because of it. One phone line and one gun smith for *all* their gunsmithing? Really? No wonder they don't answer and seem really short with people.

 

[bobehud]

Winchester Ammo-just plain god awful,and scary.

Im a 10mm fan,yes i know there is therapy for that.

I bought 12 bxs of the Silvertip ammo.Went the range with a S&W 1006-Glock 20-and EEA Witness...all loaded with this ammo.First issue fire the 1006 slide barely move and i had a FTF first ever for gun,tried to cycle slide round wouldn't chamber (thank god)..got the little bore light out couldn't see anything,then i saw it a bullet lodged in the barrel.a squib load.I always carry brass rods and small nylon hammer,a cple of had whacks and it came out.I TRIED to shot that day had 4 squibs from the Silvertip ammo.

Called Winchester spoke with a 'Sue' she asked for the lot number i gave it to her and all she said kept saying was return the ammo,which is fine.Yet when i asked her were they just going to send me replacement ammo for the 12 box's i was returning..( all the same lot #)..she became evasive would not give a straight answer and just kept repeating we need that ammo,i explained i understood that and are you going to replace it..She was rude, abrupt, and never would commit to replacing the ammo..so i still have all of it.I didn't want it to end up back in circulation and i have never spent a dime with Winchester since.They had to know the safety risks and i found a few other people online who also had the same kind of treatment and the same issue.