Wolf1775
Member
Yes, I understand where I am and what forum this is, and for that reason I figure maybe, just maybe, someone at S&W might be able to do something useful and helpful.
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Based on my father’s experience with S&W, I later obtained an M&P40 for the purposes of home and personal defense due to S&W’s reputation of reliability and service as well.
I enjoyed the M&P40 thoroughly due to its ergonomics, accuracy, low felt recoil, and reliability. It fit my hand significantly better than the Beretta M9 that my unit issues to me, and was much smoother shooting as well. This made it great for the purposes of personal and home defense, and doubled as a competition pistol with local USPSA and IDPA matches. It has served each purpose well with easily over 2,000 rounds through it until recently when it began to show issues with reliability by giving light strikes on primers.
I checked the springs and thought maybe it was just a weak spring that had gone bad from wear. I replaced the sear spring, made sure that the trigger bar and springs to that were in working order, and checked to make sure there wasn't anything that was out of place or put backwards.
At this point, the only two things that weren't factory parts were the APEX sear and front sight post. The only things replaced were springs and a trigger bar with factory parts. Still gave the same exact issues.
I contacted S&W’s customer support on September 10, 2013 regarding this issue and received a reply on September 16, 2013 requesting more information regarding the nature of the problems found with the firearm and the firearm itself. I sent in the information and made sure to note everything about the pistol to include the issues with it and which parts I had replaced with other factory parts.
After responding with the information requested I received no further reply. It wasn’t until calling the customer support number on September 27, 2013 and waiting for over 20 minutes that I was able to find out that the shipping label was never sent to me. I finally received a shipping label to have the firearm sent to S&W on September 30, 2013.
The firearm was shipped on October 2, 2013 and received two days later. I was told that there would be a wait time of approximately 4 weeks, and that I would be contacted if there were any issues. I waited until November 15, 2013 and called the customer service number again, and was told that the firearm was being held and would not be worked on until the billing department received a reply from me due to not being covered by the warranty as the second owner of the pistol. However, no letter or bill had been sent to me between when my firearm was sent in and when I called.
I was later sent a letter with a list of charges, and given the option to service the firearm at the fee charged, or have it returned. The work being charged would be to replace the striker, replace the aftermarket sear, and range testing for a total of $130.54. The parts would only have cost $9, the testing would cost $45, and the labor would cost $63. The striker and the sear, however, are drop in parts that can be swapped/replaced within minutes. I replied in early December, well before the Christmas and New Year’s holidays, stating that I wanted the firearm returned and included my billing information for any necessary charges.
By January 2, 2014 I saw no charges to my account and had not received my firearm. I called the customer service number and waited approximately 45 minutes before receiving a response. The customer service representative, Jason, was unable to provide an answer as to why there were no charges and why I had not received my firearm yet, but he stated that he did not think that I would be charged for return shipping or initial testing, and would call me back by the following Monday, January 6, 2014. I received no phone call.
I sent a letter out by mail on Thursday, January 9th and waited until Wednesday, January 14 before calling the customer service number. When I got an answer from a representative I was reassured that S&W did have my pistol, it was in the "returns" department, but for some reason it was stuck in the system and hasn't been processed to be sent back. He said he would send a runner to find the answer and either he or the runner would get back to me today.
Honestly, I'm not holding my breath waiting for that phone call.
Now the reason I was told I wasn't covered under warranty is because I'm the second owner. Fine, I can handle that. What I'm severely disappointed and disgusted with is that I started asking S&W for help in September and I didn't get much in the way of support until my third email and phone call. And the response I got was a "yes, we can help."
The pistol has been in S&W's possession since October 4, 2013 and no one has contacted me about a single damn thing regarding it. I've received no calls, emails, or letters showing I'd owe them any amount of money for service or asking what I want to do. I've received no calls back from them when they said they would. I still have no answer on why my pistol has sat around and nothing has been done.
So at this point, I want my pistol back so I can just get the parts online and have a gunsmith take care of it locally. It'd be faster and cheaper than what S&W would be able to offer, and I wouldn't feel like a company just lost or stole my gun.
And I don't care what charges may apply at this point; I think the company can swallow them after this horrible service.
-----------------------------
Based on my father’s experience with S&W, I later obtained an M&P40 for the purposes of home and personal defense due to S&W’s reputation of reliability and service as well.
I enjoyed the M&P40 thoroughly due to its ergonomics, accuracy, low felt recoil, and reliability. It fit my hand significantly better than the Beretta M9 that my unit issues to me, and was much smoother shooting as well. This made it great for the purposes of personal and home defense, and doubled as a competition pistol with local USPSA and IDPA matches. It has served each purpose well with easily over 2,000 rounds through it until recently when it began to show issues with reliability by giving light strikes on primers.
I checked the springs and thought maybe it was just a weak spring that had gone bad from wear. I replaced the sear spring, made sure that the trigger bar and springs to that were in working order, and checked to make sure there wasn't anything that was out of place or put backwards.
At this point, the only two things that weren't factory parts were the APEX sear and front sight post. The only things replaced were springs and a trigger bar with factory parts. Still gave the same exact issues.
I contacted S&W’s customer support on September 10, 2013 regarding this issue and received a reply on September 16, 2013 requesting more information regarding the nature of the problems found with the firearm and the firearm itself. I sent in the information and made sure to note everything about the pistol to include the issues with it and which parts I had replaced with other factory parts.
After responding with the information requested I received no further reply. It wasn’t until calling the customer support number on September 27, 2013 and waiting for over 20 minutes that I was able to find out that the shipping label was never sent to me. I finally received a shipping label to have the firearm sent to S&W on September 30, 2013.
The firearm was shipped on October 2, 2013 and received two days later. I was told that there would be a wait time of approximately 4 weeks, and that I would be contacted if there were any issues. I waited until November 15, 2013 and called the customer service number again, and was told that the firearm was being held and would not be worked on until the billing department received a reply from me due to not being covered by the warranty as the second owner of the pistol. However, no letter or bill had been sent to me between when my firearm was sent in and when I called.
I was later sent a letter with a list of charges, and given the option to service the firearm at the fee charged, or have it returned. The work being charged would be to replace the striker, replace the aftermarket sear, and range testing for a total of $130.54. The parts would only have cost $9, the testing would cost $45, and the labor would cost $63. The striker and the sear, however, are drop in parts that can be swapped/replaced within minutes. I replied in early December, well before the Christmas and New Year’s holidays, stating that I wanted the firearm returned and included my billing information for any necessary charges.
By January 2, 2014 I saw no charges to my account and had not received my firearm. I called the customer service number and waited approximately 45 minutes before receiving a response. The customer service representative, Jason, was unable to provide an answer as to why there were no charges and why I had not received my firearm yet, but he stated that he did not think that I would be charged for return shipping or initial testing, and would call me back by the following Monday, January 6, 2014. I received no phone call.
I sent a letter out by mail on Thursday, January 9th and waited until Wednesday, January 14 before calling the customer service number. When I got an answer from a representative I was reassured that S&W did have my pistol, it was in the "returns" department, but for some reason it was stuck in the system and hasn't been processed to be sent back. He said he would send a runner to find the answer and either he or the runner would get back to me today.
Honestly, I'm not holding my breath waiting for that phone call.
Now the reason I was told I wasn't covered under warranty is because I'm the second owner. Fine, I can handle that. What I'm severely disappointed and disgusted with is that I started asking S&W for help in September and I didn't get much in the way of support until my third email and phone call. And the response I got was a "yes, we can help."
The pistol has been in S&W's possession since October 4, 2013 and no one has contacted me about a single damn thing regarding it. I've received no calls, emails, or letters showing I'd owe them any amount of money for service or asking what I want to do. I've received no calls back from them when they said they would. I still have no answer on why my pistol has sat around and nothing has been done.
So at this point, I want my pistol back so I can just get the parts online and have a gunsmith take care of it locally. It'd be faster and cheaper than what S&W would be able to offer, and I wouldn't feel like a company just lost or stole my gun.
And I don't care what charges may apply at this point; I think the company can swallow them after this horrible service.
