S&W CUSTOMER SERVICE; Some hope after all :)

[jzinkel]

Both times I had to used S&W service the label was sent to my email and I just printed it out ... to hell with the USPS. I had both my labels in less than 24 hours as other have noted.

They said they would e-mail me. They indicated they were trying different methods. I told them the current one is OBVIOUSLY not working. They also indicated they are terribly understaffed. I am watching for the label....................John

 

[jzinkel]

Call them and tell them to email you a copy of the FedEx label. This is the first I've heard of an issue with s&w customer service.

They indicated they will e-mail me.................Waiting. John

 

[jzinkel]

My buddy just had repair work done on his TC Pro Hunter, he put in a detailed letter and sent it directly to S&W, had it back in a week with a new barrel. Maybe you should consider this option.

Hoping for similar outcome. Could have bought a nice couch. Giving it 72 hours. Then going to the sales section. John

 

[jzinkel]

Here is info from S&W as of today 8/29, 14 days after I received my RA #;

Dear Customer,

Hi John

We're experiencing some difficulties with getting return labels out to our customers please allow a few more days to arrive if it does not come we will get you the label another way

If further assistance is required please reply accordingly.

Sincerely,

Tom

I imagine they will use courier pigion?
Regards, John

 

[RedNeck Jim]

Well, so much for that outstanding customer service so many here have bragged about.

 

[eschoendorff]

John,

Not to toot my own horn, but this is the greatest "in-stock ammo" thread of all time, lol.

http://smith-wessonforum.com/smith-wesson-m-p-15-22/292430-official-stock-22lr-ammo-thread.html

This site GunBot find 22lr ammo in stock is an excellent source for in-stock ammo and magazines.

Here is the weapon's parts breakdown. http://smith-wessonforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=108376&d=1364433537

I just looked at that patent breakdown. What a cool find!

In other news, it sounds like S&W is backlogged from their mid-summer shut down (as stated by a previous poster).

I know that this is a frustrating experience. Hang in there.

 

[Majorlk]

Well, so much for that outstanding customer service so many here have bragged about.

Wow, one foul up and we are now trashing S&W's customer service?

 

[RedNeck Jim]

Wow, one foul up and we are now trashing S&W's customer service?

Yep. From what is stated here there is no excuse for such a runaround. In business, your reputation is only as good as what your last client thinks... not what you have done in the past. You have to be good on every order. Of course no one is perfect & mistakes happen but it is when mistakes happen that you get the full measure of a company's customer service.

S&W has an unhappy client that has had to contact them multiple times. Even after all of that, their response is to wait some more. That is silly. No matter what went wrong or no matter where the return label is, assuming it was sent, their customer service could offer something better than wait some more. Send the return label by email immediately and then deal with the initial, missing return later.

 

[Majorlk]

Jim, it must be nice to be perfect. I thought there was only one perfect person.

 

[RedNeck Jim]

Jim, it must be nice to be perfect. I thought there was only one perfect person.

There was only one perfect person... that we agree.

If you note, I stated no one is perfect. However, as I stated, when you make a mistake, there is a proper way to rectify the situation. Ignoring your customer & telling them to wait some more rectifies nothing. All they have done is compound an already bad situation.

Personally, I would go up the food chain and take names & document everything anyone told me. Surely there is someone there that can override this first layer of customer service and do what is proper.

 

[jzinkel]

Well, so much for that outstanding customer service so many here have bragged about.

S&W is following the same greed patterns of many organizations who are making RECORD profits while keeping staffing at pre-recession levels. Every S&W employee I spoke (1/2 dozen) expressed severe distress regarding unrealistic workloads and an inability to keep up with the overwhelming demand. This despite the following public information on S&W's enormous profits last quarter;


PROFIT REPORT Smith & Wesson (SWHC)
SMITH & WESSON) more than doubled its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings and issued a bullish outlook as the firearms manufacturer continues to capitalize on rising demand for guns.

Shares of the Springfield, Mass.-based company ticked slightly higher in after-hours trading on the results and upbeat guidance.

Smith & Wesson said it earned $25.17 million, or 38 cents a share, last quarter, compared with $12.47 million, or 19 cents a share, a year earlier.

On a non-GAAP basis, the company’s earnings came in at 44 cents a share, matching consensus calls from analysts and management's upgraded guidance earlier this month.

Sales soared 37.6% to a new record of $178.7 million, topping the Street’s view of $170.7 million. Gross profits expanded to 38.3% from 36.1%.Smith & Wesson CEO James Debney cited “continued robust consumer demand for firearms” as well as “significant increases” in the company manufacturing capacity.

Like many firearms manufactures, Smith & Wesson has seen a rise in demand since the Sandy Hook massacre in Newtown, Conn. in December. The mass shooting sparked fears of much tighter gun control legislation from Congress, although the gun lobbyists helped block a bill requiring universal background checks earlier this year.

Looking ahead, Smith & Wesson forecasted fiscal first-quarter revenue of $162 million to $167 million and non-GAAP EPS of 34 cents to 37 cents. Both figures would exceed current forecasts from analysts for sales of $141 million on EPS of 30 cents.

For fiscal 2014, management sees sales of $605 million to $615 million and EPS of $1.30 to $1.35. Again, both figures would top the Street’s projections for revenue of $602.3 million and profits of $1.18 a share.

Shares of Smith & Wesson inched up 0.3% to $10.05 in extended trading on Tuesday afternoon. Smith & Wesson closed regular trading with a 3.74% rally to $9.99, leaving it up just over 18% on the year

 

[Scogg45]

Hello all,

I am a new member; however, have been a reader of the forum of sometime. This thread got me to join and take some action. As a longtime fan of S&W I am very concerned that poor customer service is becoming the norm. S&W cannot rest on their laurels. They have to earn our business every day. I also believe S&W should get a chance to redeem itself if this truly is a onetime occurrence based in a spike in demand. I emailed S&W’s customer service with the following email in quotes. I did get an auto reply with ticket # LTK111770355389X.

I will post an appropriate introduction and (awesome) impression of my new M&P 15-22 MOE in FDE. I shot it yesterday for the first time. --- Here is what I wrote and encourage other to hold S&W accountable.

“S&W Customer Service,

I am writing on behalf of a fellow S&W owner. Mr. J. Zinkel from Homer Glen, IL. He has been requesting service for his M&P 15-22 MOE for a few weeks now. He cannot even get a shipping label. Every step of his customer service journey is being reported on the smith & Wesson forum (direct link provided below). All members of the forum are fans of the Smith & Wesson company as well as owners of Smith & Wesson forearms. I purchased an M&P 15-22 MOE in FDE solely on the recommendation of this forum. We all understand the current supply and demand issues going on with all firearms manufacturers. While some delay is expected, I feel the situation with MR. Zinkel is going in the wrong direction. As an owner of multiple S&W firearms whom has always had great experiences with S&W I am in an awkward position. Many members of the forum have also had great customer service experiences with S&W as also stated in the supplied link. We are all watching this incident as a benchmark on how S&W will conduct its customer service operations in the future. Please make this right, ASAP and show us it is truly a hiccup.

Thank You,
Jared Scoggins


http://smith-wessonforum.com/smith-...ares-i-am-done-giving-up-s-w-out-control.html “

 

[jzinkel]

Hello all,

I am a new member; however, have been a reader of the forum of sometime. This thread got me to join and take some action. As a longtime fan of S&W I am very concerned that poor customer service is becoming the norm. S&W cannot rest on their laurels. They have to earn our business every day. I also believe S&W should get a chance to redeem itself if this truly is a onetime occurrence based in a spike in demand. I emailed S&W’s customer service with the following email in quotes. I did get an auto reply with ticket # LTK111770355389X.

I will post an appropriate introduction and (awesome) impression of my new M&P 15-22 MOE in FDE. I shot it yesterday for the first time. --- Here is what I wrote and encourage other to hold S&W accountable.

“S&W Customer Service,

I am writing on behalf of a fellow S&W owner. Mr. J. Zinkel from Homer Glen, IL. He has been requesting service for his M&P 15-22 MOE for a few weeks now. He cannot even get a shipping label. Every step of his customer service journey is being reported on the smith & Wesson forum (direct link provided below). All members of the forum are fans of the Smith & Wesson company as well as owners of Smith & Wesson forearms. I purchased an M&P 15-22 MOE in FDE solely on the recommendation of this forum. We all understand the current supply and demand issues going on with all firearms manufacturers. While some delay is expected, I feel the situation with MR. Zinkel is going in the wrong direction. As an owner of multiple S&W firearms whom has always had great experiences with S&W I am in an awkward position. Many members of the forum have also had great customer service experiences with S&W as also stated in the supplied link. We are all watching this incident as a benchmark on how S&W will conduct its customer service operations in the future. Please make this right, ASAP and show us it is truly a hiccup.

Thank You,
Jared Scoggins


http://smith-wessonforum.com/smith-...ares-i-am-done-giving-up-s-w-out-control.html “

Thank you Jared! I get the impressions that the S&W staff (extremly short/limited) despite record profits are just as frustrated as I am. I am sure there are others out there (not on our forum) who are equally exassperated. I guess if we were all smart enough, we'd all be buying stock in all these gun manufaturers? Thanks OBAMA for being America's FINEST gun saleman of ALL TIME. When things get out of control, as it appears at S&W, customer service will deteriorate. I certainly can testify to that. Sad thing is, it does not need to be that way, just hire some folks? Or give me the f'ing return information over the phone. Good luck on getting a response from your e-mail BTW. I am still waiting on a response from an e-mail sent 8 business days ago. Note, their auto response says you'll get a response within 5 business days. Doubt it. I APPRECIATE THE SUPPORT! Regards, John

 

[Kayback]

Am I the only person who thinks 1) 14 days isn't that much 2)they ARE actually trying to help you. They have admitted they have some issues.

I'm more curious why the shop wouldn't take it back in the first place.

KBK

 

[Majorlk]

I will get flamed, most likely, but here goes...

I think there's more to this story; where is Paul Harvey?

 

[RedNeck Jim]

Am I the only person who thinks 1) 14 days isn't that much

Isn't too much to get a return label to your client in the age of electronic mail? I'd say way too long.

2)they ARE actually trying to help you. They have admitted they have some issues.

Telling your client to keep waiting is not helping... or at least my clients wouldn't think so. It should take little extra effort to reply with a return label attached as it does to reply to say keep waiting. If my small business can do such, I'd sure think a money machine like S&W could do so.

 

[jzinkel]

Am I the only person who thinks 1) 14 days isn't that much 2)they ARE actually trying to help you. They have admitted they have some issues.

I'm more curious why the shop wouldn't take it back in the first place.

KBK

Unfortunately, they tell me I will have it in 2 to 3 days. Those days go by, and the cycle repeats. I am on the 4th-5th cycle? I get different stories from each S&W employee I speak to. "We mailed it, we e-mailed it, we mailed again, we e-mailed again. We had your name wrong? The thing is registered correctly with my serial number and my correct name. So, they are not trying to help me. It's all just a bunch of hooey in my opinion? The shop will not accept firearm returns. I guess I can camp out in front of their store and cause an incident? But that is their policy, and they are sticking to it. Maybe they knew it was a sh_t, lemon gun to begin with, and I am the sucker here? A half grand is a lot of money in my opinion. No, it won't break me, but at least give me the truth? Regards, John

 

[TheMaineEvent]

I certainly think that you're falling through the cracks at S&W, but S&W does have superb customer service, and while it's unfortunate you're not receiving it at the moment that does not a bad company make.

No company, big or small, has a 100% satisfaction rating. Mistakes happen, and we're all on the receiving end them from time to time. It's easy to paint a company in broad strokes when it's happening to you, but I think it's also important to realize this isn't the norm for S&W and they really are a good company and will make things right.

Personally, I think you need to take emotion and the conspiracy theories out of the equation and be methodical in your approach. At this point, I'd escalate your conversations to management and outline how many conversations you've had with customer service, when you had them, what the result was, etc.

I have zero doubt you'll be taken care of so while the waiting sucks I'd take some comfort in knowing that it's a matter of when, not if, that this issue will be solved.

 

[jzinkel]

I certainly think that you're falling through the cracks at S&W, but S&W does have superb customer service, and while it's unfortunate you're not receiving it at the moment that does not a bad company make.

No company, big or small, has a 100% satisfaction rating. Mistakes happen, and we're all on the receiving end them from time to time. It's easy to paint a company in broad strokes when it's happening to you, but I think it's also important to realize this isn't the norm for S&W and they really are a good company and will make things right.

Personally, I think you need to take emotion and the conspiracy theories out of the equation and be methodical in your approach. At this point, I'd escalate your conversations to management and outline how many conversations you've had with customer service, when you had them, what the result was, etc.

I have zero doubt you'll be taken care of so while the waiting sucks I'd take some comfort in knowing that it's a matter of when, not if, that this issue will be solved.

Will do. Pretty easy regarding results so far; NOTHING. I'll go ahead and wait on the phone for over an hour and ask to speak to a manager. I'll report my findings. Thanks for the advice. Regards, John

 

[TheMaineEvent]

I guess nothing is a subjective word. While you may not have the shipping label in hand, I'd take some comfort in the fact that S&W reached out to you to tell you that they're having some issues on getting shipping labels out.

That tells me they are aware of you and are making an effort to keep you informed and that's what I'd call something.

I know this must be incredibly frustrating for you. Especially, when you've had CS reps tell you that you should have had the label by now, but when you have S&W telling you they are having trouble THAT is what you should listen to and re-evaluate your timeline accordingly.