Your best customer service experiences?

[ColoradoMinuteMan]

You hear a lot of negative feedback about various companies. I thought I'd kick off the new year wit ha positive vibe.

I've had great experiences with RCBS in the past. I have exchanged a few emails with customer service in the past and they have offered great advice on how to deal with various reloading issues I may be having using their equipment. The response has always been timely and they have offered a few spare parts here and their with little or no questions asked when I ran into issues.

Another company that comes to mind is Tapco. I ran into an issue fitting a new gas tube into a Yugo SKS. Anyone who has dealt with the SKS gas tubes will know that they all seem to fit slightly different. I emailed and customer service was knowledgeable and ended up having me send back the tube. They sent it back to me with it filled down saying that they had fit it to a couple of different SKS they had on hand. It now fit beautifully to my rifle. They also sent a second gas tube along with it telling me I may need to do additional fitting. In case I mess up, here is a second one to start over with and to just send the second one back if I don't need it.

So, tell me about your good (firearms related) customer service experiences or just the names of companies you have had great luck with.

 

[Cowhide Cliff]

Ruger is one company that comes to mind, so does Leupold.

Only needed Ruger customer service a couple times, Leupold once but they were no questions asked stand behind their product.

 

[gamestalker]

I've had some amazing CS from RCBS & Ruger. As far as stores, Midway has been awesome.

Sadly my worst experiences have been with Remington & Taurus. This won't prevent me from buying a Remington again, but I can't say the same for Taurus, they've sold me the last of their firearm's.

GS

 

[tickfarm]

I've had great service from Horady, RCBS and Leupold. Not so much from Lyman.

 

[ColoradoMinuteMan]

... so does Leupold.

That's good to hear. I'm actually going to invest in my first optic and I think I've landed on a Leupold VX-1 2-7x33 for one of my ARs. I've been an iron sight guy up until now, but my eyes have gotten to the point that I need some magnification if I'm going to have any accuracy past 50 yards. Not much I can do for my eye outside of a cornea transplant (did my left eye already but it;s still healing), but at least I can magnify until such time as I go for the right eye transplant. I was looking at the Vortex who also supposedly has outstanding customer service but the Leupold had much better eye relief with a side by side comparison. My eye also couldn't tell a material difference with the VX-2 or VX-3 so figured I start near the bottom and use it until I find something I want to do that I can't do with the VX-1.

 

[silversport]

Latest best...short version...Christmas Day dinner...loud pop...I thought my eating caused the chair to break but couldn't find any damage...got home and upon removing my GLOCK 30S from the X-Concealement holster, I noticed the Kydex gave way...long crack making the holster non usable...

Email to X-Concealment about my 2 year old holster and what had happened...a quick reply and request for a pic of the damaged holster and they are sending me a new one...free of charge...

I honestly thought I would be SOL or perhaps might get a discount on a replacement but X-Concealment came through...A+ service and email follow up...

Bill

 

[Bobson]

Only gun-related CS I ever used was Winchester, on a Model 70 I didn't even own. They knew I didn't own it (found a malfunction on a new rifle I wanted to buy in a shop, so they sent it in), but they were still very apologetic, polite, and extremely quick fixing the problem and keeping me updated throughout the process. That's always stuck with me - the way they treated a person who wasn't even a customer yet.

 

[jmorris]

Dillon is the benchmark for me. Wish they sold more than reloading equipment with the same warranty and customer service.

 

[TwoEyedJack]

Ruger. I have a Blackhawk .41 mag and broke the grip frame clean off. I sent it back and politely requested a steel grip frame, which they installed, re-blued the whole thing, and sent it back. I have to say, I far prefer the steel grip frame for shooting. They should come that way from the factory.

 

[R.W.Dale]

Hi-Point

I once broke the firing pin in a pawnshop special 995 carbine by dry firing it.

Sent it to them gun only and a week and a half got basically a new gun built on my receiver ALONG WITH all the accessories and box a new gun ships with including an extra mag.

 

[ROAshooter]

RCBS.....never questions any problems with their product....they simply do what is necessary to correct the issue.....ALWAYS...without charge ...and in a very timely manner.....would not....do not...see any reason not to use RCBS products.....now going on....44 years.....now I feel old...

 

[JT-AR-MG42]

Remington in the early 80s.
Had a 700 Safari .375 that was stretching brass badly.
Always worked and who knows?
Was it my lack of setting headspace off the shoulder?
I did tell them that I was only shooting re-loads.

Sent it to them.
Two weeks later it was back with a new barrel and a
new deluxe stock with figure I have only seen on Remington's engraved guns.

JT

 

[oneounceload]

RCBS, S&W, Cabela's, have always handled any issue with speed, professionalism and always to my satisfaction (Amazon as well)

 

[Swing]

Ruger, hands down. Call is answered fast by a competent person. Small parts, magazines, and manuals have been sent to be for free on a few occasions. (In an era of 45 minute hold times, reps without a clue or the ability to speak English, and nearly nonexistent customer service, that is actually something to admire.)

CzechPoint USA has been good the last few years. Their tech knows his stuff and the lady that handles shipping and returns is on the ball.

I haven't used them in a while, but Southern Ohio Gun (SOG) and AIM Surplus have been pretty good back when I was active with C&R.

In the NFA world, Serbu is helpful and Paladin Armory is excellent. AAC has been, at least in my experience, a mixed bag, but generally good.

 

[plodder]

Dillon, Lage, RCBS

 

[Warp]

Optics Planet was great (phone consult on a product I had received)

Glock was good but a little slow (tried to fix/then replaced a problem pistol, swapped my extra mags and aftermarket night sights over too)

Winchester was as bad as it gets...never even responded (crap ammo with pictures of how it was bad were sent to them)

Palmetto State Armory is bad, if and when you can even get a hold of them. Best bet was always to publicly call them out in their section on ar15.com otherwise they seem to just intentionally ignore you (take two weeks just to email a gift certificate number, take weeks to ship most things, can't even get a hold of them after two weeks to cancel the order and place it somewhere else when they listed "in stock" and nothing about delays)

HK was good (just a sight install)

Can't think of any others I've used right now.

 

[jcwit]

I have little to no trouble with any companies, even Harbor Freight. Maybe I'm just to easy to please.

Whether or no, I'm happy.

Even little ol' Lee has replaced parts for me with no issues, even when it was my fault.

 

[Panzerschwein]

The best? Charter Arms.

The worst? Smith & Wesson. They were awful the three times I've had to deal with them, and am still dealing with them now in fact.

 

[TomJ]

Rocky Mountain Reloading has been fantastic. I'm new to reloading and e-mailed them with questions late in the evening. I receive responses within a few minutes, regardless of the time of day. I don't think they sleep. Product is shipped quickly with great communication along the way.

Buffalo Bore has been great as well. I've e-mailed them with questions or recommendations and receive answers from the owner, Tim Sundles in a timely manner.

Finally, Springfield Armory has been great. I had feed issues with a XDS 45 3.3 which was repaired. I also had ongoing issues with a 9mm EMP. They went out of their way to make sure I was happy, and when I lost confidence in the gun due to too many attempts to repair it they offered me the option of exchanging it for another one of their guns.

 

[dogmush]

FN took care of me when my new FNX didn't work right. They were awesome.

Primary Arms is consistently great to deal with. Most recently I ordered stuff at noon on Dec 30th, and had it in my hand on the first of Jan.

Top Gun Supply, great folks, and will answer the phone and answer questions about how gun parts I ordered are supposed to fit. They're my go to Sig guys.

Lens and lasers .com I've bought two Crimson Traces and two scopes from him. Another guy that will sit on the phone for 1/2 an hour explaining the fine points of a reticle you're looking at so you get the right thing. Prices are generally below MAP.

 

[22-rimfire]

Never had a serious issue with a gun that required anything other than ordering a couple parts from a firearm manufacturer. On the negative side, I wanted some extra magazines for the Remington 747.... called them.... paid them; they sent the wrong magazines. Figured the worst they would do is send 504 mags; not true. Just sent me some useless magazines for the 597.

 

[Dazen]

Ruger, they sent me the parts needed for 50 year old 22 for free. Made such a big impression to me I have since purchased 4 Ruger's.

 

[dubbleA]

I had a Swarovski scope take a crap on me 8 days before leaving the country on a hunt. I called Swarovski USA and talked with a CS rep over the phone about the situation. Long story short the scope was repaired and returned to me in 5 days. They really bent over backwards to get this done and I will always remember that and pass their service on to others.


The absolute worst CS was with Ruger but that's another thread.

 

[maxxhavoc]

Best CS was from Armscor/Rock Island Armory. I bought a new 1911 that had multiple Failure to Feed issues. They called and said the frame was out of tolerance. They sent it back with new frame, feed ramps polished perfectly, all wear surfaces polished, and tight. Most smooth and reliable 1911 I own now. I wish all of them had similar issues so I could send them back, too.

I also had excellent CS from Hi-Point. I shot my 995 enough to wear down the firing pin channel. It would not fire reliably. I took off the front sight, bolt handle, rear sight, and anything that could be damaged in shipping.

It came back with all those items replaced, a new stock to replaced the scuffed one, two mags and a handwritten apology that the gun failed.

Worst CS was from Kimber. It came from the factory with an incorrect front sight. Since it was more than a year after I got it, they offered to put the proper height sight in for $190. I declined, and bought the sight from them for $50, and a gunsmith drifted it in for $25.

 

[mgmorden]

One was actually today. Just bought a Marlin XS7 from CDNN and I didn't notice until I got home that the bottom tip of the recoil pad was crumpled/crushed. Called up Marlin today, told the CSR and she said she's ship out a new recoil pad if they had them stocked separately. Said if they didn't have just the pad they'd ship me a whole new stock . . .

That's pretty good service.

I also posted on another forum a while back looking for anyone who knew where I could find a replacement sight blade for an old H&R Handi-rifle (.30-30). I didn't even bother calling H&R because it was a used gun and I didn't feel it was their problem. Someone from H&R actually saw the post, contacted me via PM, and shipped out a new blade for free.