Taurus warranty service rant

[JR47]

I've experienced problems only with my two Taurus .22 revolvers (94 and 941). The 941 malfunctioned right out of the box and had to go back to Miami. To their credit they fixed it with turnaround time of 2 weeks. Doubt I'll ever buy another Taurus handgun.

S&W Model 625-2 broke on first shot. Cylinder would spin freely. 6 week turnaround.

Sig Model P229 cracked slide some where between shots 50-75. 6 week turnaround.

HK USP45 shot into 12" @ 7 yards. HK replaced barrel, then sent the gun back without the o-ring. When I called, I was told that "the shop won't release a gun unless it's 100%", and they wanted to sell me an o-ring. 6 week turnaround.

Colt Model 1911A1 Series 80, Mk. IV SS, the rear sight dove-tail was machined over-size. Colt re-installed the rear sight with RED Loctite. I heated it, then stippled the rear sight base. Been in place now for almost 25 years. 5 week turnaround.

I bought a Colt Government Model .380. Missing the slide stop spring. Ordered from Colt in 1996, still waiting for it. Did receive a nice recoil spring, instead. Re-ordered second time in 1996, still waiting.

Following the example of others here, I should NEVER buy S&W, Colt, HK, or Sig products.

Please, I'm willing to bet that 50%+ of these horror stories are missing at least part of the actual circumstances, to protect the ego of the owners.

 

[moooose102]

yep, had a similar problem with them. they have a CUSTOMER DIS-SERVICE DEPARTMENT! you might want to try contacting the brazillian plant. i sent them an e-mail (because i do not speak any foreign languages) and after a while, they sent it to their person in charge of importing guns to the u.s.a. . after a while, he contancted me, and we went round and round for about 3 more weeks. the lesson i kearned is this, the next time my taurus even hickups, i an going to trade it in on an american made gun!

 

[weisse52]

YES, you do get what you pay for!

In some cases it is a trade off, low price, poor customer service. (Taurus)
In some cases you get low price, good customer service. (Hi Point)

The Taurus faithful can claim anything they want, when you buy a Taurus it is a crap shoot. If you get a good one, you get a good deal. If it has issues, then get ready for issues in getting it fixed.

Buy American....pay the extra money and keep US gun makers in business.

FLAME ON......

 

[PT1911]

I have never had to use their service (all of my taurus guns have been flawless.) However my local shop has used them on multiple occasions (typically due to a problem with operator headspace) and all have gone off without a hitch. Hell, the shop owner has actually had to argue with customer service because they didnt charge him for something for which he was at fault. They even refuse to allow him to pay shipping.


One such time he even argued with the customer service rep until the guy agreed to take the cc number and charge him for the part... guess what.. part showed up and no bill.

 

[akodo]

I see NC-Mike failed to answer my question.

How long can a gun manufacturer keep your gun before it becomes an issue? 6 months? 1 year? 5 years? 10 years?

 

[jabberwocky]

I own a PT145. During cleaning, I broke it. Yes, my fault. Sent it in. 2 months to get fixed.

It took one month to get to my weapon and determine the defect. It took another month to get the part for the fix, which had to come from Brazil (shipping, customs, etc). Within a week of recieving the part, my weapon was returned to me FedEx'd.

Two months, I can live with. Four months is another deal all together. I bleed with ya, jr45. A call to the upper management shouldn't be a necessity. But, alas, a requirement in this situation.

 

[Rambling_one]

My carry gun was a Taurus PT-140 until a visit to the range one day and it repeatedly failed to go back into battery after each shot. It was returned to Taurus who said everything checked out.
It was returned and I was told they replaced the trigger. On the third mailing they found warped plastic and replaced the frame. The gun remains in the safe and I carry a Glock 27 now.

 

[LRaccuracy]

I have purchased 3 Taurus revolvers of which two were junk right from the dealer. Each time I returned them they promised to pay the postage both ways. I had to fight them for months to get my money. NEVER, NEVER again will I purchase a Taurus. There is no substitute for Smith and Wesson and then sometimes you can get junk from them too.

However I will say this. I have only had one problem with Smith & Wesson in over 30 years of buying and using their products and it was not with their service.

 

[shooter429]

This is where I'm coming from

The Taurus faithful can claim anything they want, when you buy a Taurus it is a crap shoot. If you get a good one, you get a good deal. If it has issues, then get ready for issues in getting it fixed.

Buy American....pay the extra money and keep US gun makers in business.

Some Believers say those of us who have had problems with the guns and service are not being honest. Others say every manufacturer makes an error once in a while. I cannot understand this cynicism

I guess those who want to believe Taurus are good, for whatever reason, are going to dismiss the thousands of reports of problematic products and service. They are not going to listen to reason, kinda like the Heavens Gate cult members or the Coreshians.

To the rest of us, the evidence is overwhelming. I can personally attest to dozens of product failures and terrible customer service. I have never owned a Taurus that was flawless, and all of the defects were on guns that were bought NIB from dealers. Service Dept. does not follow up or fix the guns in a resonable amount of time. Then when my guns came back from being fixed after 3-4 months, they still did not work.

In my experience Taurus handguns are defective 100 percent of the time and the customer service and repairs never fixed an issue.

To those who will listen, please support our country, and make a sound purchase decision by buying quality, American made guns.

Shooter429

 

[atblis]

I am listening. A couple Taurus pistols interest me, but...after my experiences with EAA, I am not going down what sounds like a very similar road.

 

[Yo Mama]

Man. A whole bunch of hurt feelings here.

I own a few Taurus handguns. I have had to send some back to the mothership. Some took a long time, some were real quick.

In the end, my take on it is that Taurus sells guns!!!!

They sell alot of guns!!!! So many that when you send back you may have to wait your turn. I notice around the holidays it's a lot longer wait, so I delayed until a better time so as to have a quicker turn around.

Buy American....pay the extra money and keep US gun makers in business.

FLAME ON......

Not that black and white if you're going to look at it friend. I keep my shop owner, help, distributer, importer, advertisers, and parts makers employed here in the good old USA.

 

[shooter429]

I have a couple counterpoints

They sell alot of guns!!!! So many that when you send back you may have to wait your turn.

They do sell a lot of guns. What does that have to do with their quality, reliabilty, service, resale etc.?

China sells a lot of cheap toys with lead paint...does that make them desireable? I think not.

Many other makers like Ruger, Browning, S&W, Glock, Sig sell a lot of guns too. The difference is they still have great service, and fast turnaround.

Also, if you buy a quality gun, you will likely never need service unless you break something or lose something like small springs etc. This has happened to me. The last time, I lost a part to my Browning. They took care of me within minutes, shipped the part overnight and charged NOTHING! They went above and beyond and made me a happy Camper Pun intended.

As to other companies making Taurus-like guns, there are several quality alternatives.
Taurus PT92 is a cheap Beretta knockoff.
Revolvers: Cheap S&W knockoffs.
PT1911: S&W, DW, Colt, Fusion, Wilson, Nighthawk
Compact polymer/duty polymer autos: Glock, S&W, Ruger, Sig

There are many better quality makes that are similar to Taurus except they work well,.

Shooter429

 

[LRaccuracy]

Original post by Shooter429:

To those who will listen, please support our country, and make a sound purchase decision by buying quality, American made guns.

Not to mention buying American Made Products by American Companies based in America. Look at what it has done to our job market by buying foreign based products.

 

[novaDAK]

They sell alot of guns!!!! So many that when you send back you may have to wait your turn.

If they're selling a lot of guns, then they should be able to afford to have a larger customer service dept for the increased number of consumers.

 

[Yo Mama]

They do sell a lot of guns. What does that have to do with their quality, reliabilty, service, resale etc.?

China sells a lot of cheap toys with lead paint...does that make them desireable? I think not.

Many other makers like Ruger, Browning, S&W, Glock, Sig sell a lot of guns too. The difference is they still have great service, and fast turnaround.

Also, if you buy a quality gun, you will likely never need service unless you break something or lose something like small springs etc. This

It has to do with the turn around time. If they sell more guns, they get more back. Has nothing to do with quality, which I feel Taurus has as I own a few.

There is no lead paint in a gun, stay on target!

The others like Ruger , Browning, S&W, Glock, and Sig all break! As they sell less than Taurus, they have fewer returned for service. I don't usually see that it is a user breaking the gun, as guns shoot bullets and should be strong enough to take some abuse. And in regards to service, I love Taurus, you just have to wait, but they never screw you. In regards to other manufacturers, you can search here and everyone gets dinged from time to time.

If they're selling a lot of guns, then they should be able to afford to have a larger customer service dept for the increased number of consumers.

And I've said the same thing for ammo manufacturers. If they tooled up, we'd have quicker access to ammo. Unfortunately, it's not so.

 

[atblis]

Really

The others like Ruger , Browning, S&W, Glock, and Sig all break! As they sell less than Taurus, they have fewer returned for service.

You really think Taurus sells more pistols than Glock? How many police contracts in the US does Taurus have? The only one of those that you might be right about is Browning.

 

[21bubba]

I can't wait till next month (sept.), isn't that "lets talk trash about Ruger" month?

 

[Yo Mama]

You really think Taurus sells more pistols than Glock? How many police contracts in the US does Taurus have? The only one of those that you might be right about is Browning.

How many cops vs. civilians in the market are there? Cops may get the Glocks, but everyone else has the choice.

Oh, and by the way, Glocks break! No...really, they do!
Cracked breachface: http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=228839&highlight=glocks+break

Barell Lugs: http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=450256&highlight=glocks+break

Oh, and don't forget why we have 3 generations: http://www.thegunzone.com/glock/problems.html

Look, I love all guns, I don't discriminate. ALL GUNS WILL HAVE PROBLEMS. It doesn't matter the manufacturer, we are talking big physics here. A bullet is no joke, and contained in a handgun the factors increase.

I can't wait till next month (sept.), isn't that "lets talk trash about Ruger" month?

Amen brother.

 

[TXHORNS]

I had a minor issue with a PT145 I bought new. The rear sight was not machined properly and did not line up with the front sight correctly. They would not send me a new rear sight nor would they pay to ship it to the factory so I sold it. Even if i mailed them the original sight they still would not take care of it. They insisted I pay to send the entire gun to them. I will never buy Taurus anything again.