Gander Moutain Protection Plan

K

kevinmcc2

Member
Joined
Sep 18, 2012
Messages
85
Reaction score
7
Has anyone here bought a protection plan from Gander Mountain? It covers 1 year over the manufacturer warranty... Well I learned S&W has a lifetime warranty so... Should I attempt to "return" or cancel this? I asked them what they covered and they told me if the firearm has ANY problem they would attempt to fix it in house... That seems nice but then they told me if they cannot they will send it in to S&W free of charge.. But doesnt Smith send a free shipping label?


SO should I try to cancel this $30 option or keep it in your opinion?
 
Register to hide this ad
The lifetime S&W warranty is a good as it gets. They even cover shipping including home pickup & delivery. I have had 2 revolvers that I wasn't even the original owner fully covered including shipping. I bought some cleaning supplies at GM so to save $10 on my purchase I applied for the credit card. When I got it in the mail I called the phone number & it went to a sales person trying to sell some kind of protection. IMO you don't need to spend more money for an additional warranty.
 
Actually not a bad idea for guns that have manufacturer lifetime warranties. Gander matches manufacturer, so in the case of lifetime, Gander's coverage is also lifetime.

Sometimes the manufacturer won't cover incoming shipping. If this happens just once, then that will cost you roughly the same price as the protection plan. With Gander, you just drop the gun off with them, they deal with the shipping no matter how many times it goes in. When it comes to lifetime, you also have no idea what the laws in the future may hold. Maybe somewhere down the line, 'unlicensed' people can't ship guns themselves anymore, even through UPS/Fedex. There's a possibility that happens in your lifetime.

While I'm usually one of those cynics when it comes to such protection plans, I don't think it's a terrible gamble to pay $30 for a literal lifetime of complete coverage (shipping, parts, labor, replacement, etc).
I've known of some gun manufacturers that used to have high praises sung from the hilltops about their customer service being generous with return shipping labels. Currently, S&W is one of them. But I also know of some that used to be that way, and have tightened up their budget, and you can't rule out S&W goes down that path within your lifetime.
 
A friend of mine paid for the appliance Warranty offered be the electric company with a monthly payment included in her bill. When her furnace finally went the warranty didn't cover the heat exchanger. She told me after all the years paying the warranty $4k wasted.
 
This kind of insurance has the odds heavily stacked in the insurer's favor.
Insurance companies and gambling casino's don't make huge profits by playing the odds fairly.
When dealing with firearms most , if not all , companies will warrant defects at no extra cost to you.
The "extended" warranty is just an extra $30.00 in the insurance seller's pocket .
Insurance companies always have a loop hole and a lot of fine print to weasel out of paying.
Gary
 
Last edited:
For the most part extended warranties are just another way to get into your pocket. Also, if they "attempt" to repair your gun and fail, they may have just voided the factory warranty. So now you have to fight with them for a new gun.

I'm not sure what percentage of S&W guns that need to go back for warranty repairs but if you consider the hundreds of thousands of guns that they produce, I'm sure that percentage is low. Not something to worry about. Even if it is a measly $30.
 
Gander MT Warranty

I always refuse their warranty plan for a few reasons. First,the firearms warranty usually takes care of the problem. Second, the in-house repair sounds good but I had dropped off a rifle for a repair and six months later it had not been touched. Finally, I may find the firearm is not what I expected it to be and I may get rid of it.
 
Extended warranties are just an additional profit for the dealer, and a waste of money. Good luck getting your money back, you probably won't.
 
McE said:
Actually not a bad idea for guns that have manufacturer lifetime warranties. Gander matches manufacturer, so in the case of lifetime, Gander's coverage is also lifetime.
Click to expand...
Did you read the OP? He specifically said it was a one year warranty. So, no, I don't believe it's a lifetime thing.

McE said:
Sometimes the manufacturer won't cover incoming shipping. If this happens just once, then that will cost you roughly the same price as the protection plan.
Click to expand...
S&W, as has already been said, covers the shipping for the original owner. So, in this case, this is not the savings you think it would be.


McE said:
When it comes to lifetime, you also have no idea what the laws in the future may hold.
Click to expand...
It's equally unlikely that the gun will break in the first year. Remember, this isn't a lifetime extension he bought, only a year.

Here's the other thing, 99% of the time they can't fix it and send it to the manufacturer anyway. I have seen this time and time again. A guy takes his gun into the local "gun smith" (I use that term loosely) and they can't figure it out. They then ship it to the manufacturer. Here's how the process goes:
  • Gun breaks and is taken to the local guy. 1 Day
  • They take the gun in and put it on the "awaiting maintenance" shelf where it sits for at least week. 8 Days
  • The worker then looks at the gun for a couple of days. 10 Days
  • Not being able to figure out what's wrong, he recommends shipping it to the manufacturer. 11 Days
  • A couple days later they request an RMA# from the manufacturer. 13 Days
  • Because they get regular shipments with USP or FEDEx, they wait until the regular shipment comes in to ship the gun out. 14-18 Days
  • It takes two days to get to the manufacturer. 20 Days
  • They look at it and take a week to fix it. 27 Days
  • It takes two days to get back to the local guy. 29 Days
  • They check it in and it sits on another shelf for a week because they're busy. 36 Days
  • They finally get around to calling you to come get it. 37 Days

This is very common. It may sound exaggerated, but I assure you this is a conservative estimate. I've seen it take much longer. If you as the owner had just sent it in yourself, it's back in your hands typically within two weeks. 14 days vs 37, which would you rather have?

I doubt they will refund your $30, but it's worth the try. There is nothing they can do at Gander that S&W can't do and I'll bet lunch that it's faster to just send it to S&W.
 
"Universally a waste of money". I used to think so, now not so much. Bought a high end, 2400 dollar range in 2011 from Home Depot. They offered me their 4 year extended warranty which included refund or replacement coverage. 99 dollars. It's now 250. The main circuit board on my range burned out three times since then and while I did have to jump through some hoops, I got all my money back including tax. Spent the refund on a new range from Lowe's this time and their identical warranty is 149 for 5 years. I bought it.
I think it all depends on the warranty and the cost. 30 bucks total? Heck that's worth the shipping one time. If it's only for a year, I'd pass.
 
Last edited:
GM's Warranty is no more than a 'Cleaning'. The GMs around here only do Scope Mounting and such 'In-House' and Just about every problem brought in gets sent back to the manufacturer, so there's noting to be gained from GM warranties here.
 
Thanks guys.. Do you think I can cancel it and get my money back? I will be going in Monday just wanna see my odds.
 
Don't know if you can get your money back... but, in the case of S&W, the GM warranty is overkill.
 
I purchased my M&P .380 from Gander (GM) b/c of the warranty. All they do, as it was explained to me, is handle everything if the gun does not work. I've had my experiences with Glock, S&W, Springfield & Ruger. All of them are quite a hassle which I was hoping to avoid. The one year GM coverage runs out in February and no problems w/the gun so far. I'm shopping for an M&P .22 compact and will go where I get the best price, but will inquire about service after the sale before I buy.
 
Ok, lots of bad info coming up from people who are making assumptions.

I have gotten a return on the Gander protection plan. It's not that complicated, just told them I changed my mind a week after I bought the gun.

I bought two guns, a 22A-1 and a Ruger SBH, refused the protection plan by default, knowledgeable gun guy pitched that Gander matches manufacturer's so I should at least get it for the 22A-1. Couldn't find Ruger's warranty policy so asked if I could get it for both, research the Ruger policy, and return the plan if it ends up not being officially lifetime. It wasn't, I returned the plan.
 
Did they tell you that the gun had a lifetime warranty? If they didn't, then this borders on fraud. If it were me, I would demand a refund. If I didn't get it, I would post that fact everywhere I could. Management is greedy to even offer the warranty.
 
I was told outright that S&W offers lifetime. It was a selling point on the Gander warranty, not a secret. Makes less sense to pay $30 for Gander to match a 1-year manufacturer warranty, makes more sense to pay $30 for Gander to match a lifetime. Like I mentioned before, S&W may not always cover shipping. If you can predict the future of S&W for the next 40-80 years, you should be wealthy enough where $30 is a drop in the ocean, really.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

H
Are there planns to make a Metal 10mm
Replies
7
Views
835
stansdds
S
L
Need help chooseing best hearing protection
2
Replies
35
Views
2K
Rastoff
Rastoff
kip_j
Hearing Protection
2
Replies
29
Views
3K
elpac3
elpac3
B
Gander Mtn. - painted 9mm Shields?
2
Replies
23
Views
2K
bdmoss88
B
S
Gander Mountain Cerakote Service
Replies
2
Views
686
jim46ok
J

Latest posts

Back
Top