I recently purchased a 22A with a 7" barrel. From the first day I wasn't happy. The magazine would drop far enough for the next round not to chamber after one or two shots. This is not my primary carry protection weapon I understand, but it is a weapon that may be called upon to protect my family of myself at any time. I sent the pistol back for warranty work, they kept it for 9 weeks, which is four times the normal I have been told by S&W personnel. Got it back and it did the exact same thing first mag fired. Not only did it take extraordinarily long to get it back but it still doesn't work? Please. Went to the store where I purchased it and they wouldn't stand by it so we called S&W. I was told that I had to return the weapon AGAIN and wait several more weeks to find out what would happen. I currently have no 22 cal. pistol or my hard earned money. I have lost faith in the brand. By comparison I have a 14 year old Ruger I would gladly carry into combat tomorrow if need be. You have to have confidence in a firearm. A weapon that will not fire becomes a club quickly and I am not in the business of paying over $300 for a club. I sincerely hope that this is a fluke. It would take a lot for me to ever purchase another S&W product in this lifetime. Good luck to you all in the future.

Any warranty situation is an annoyance, but then again, that's what warranties are for, to cover those situations that are not normal.

Hopefully, you explained the issue well enough that they'll get it fixed properly this time.

Mine is fine...sorry yours isn't...but to swear off the whole company? Four posts and four complaints. Well, good luck to you and your future firearms as well.

I look at it this way,

Sure it's a PIA to keep sending the gun back but once straighten out this is a gun you will own the rest of your life.

I find you catch more flies with honey than vinegar so,
Call first and try and get a supervisor, get there name, be nice explain the situation, send a follow up email thanking the person for offering to take care of the problem.

Write a note that fully explains the problem and what actions you have taken to date in a polite and detached manner. Include the brand and type of ammo you are using. Stress in your note that you are open to options, like a replacement or in house credit toward another gun. Include a phone number and email address.

Track the package and when it arrives call or email the person you talked to and remind them of the situation. Tell them you you have heard that there may be a frame cracking problem with this gun and that worries you. Ask if they have replaced the magazine and magazine release. Ask what they did the first time and what else might be causing the problem. In other words talk to them and imprint your situation into there mental data base.


Then follow up every 10 business days, squeaky wheel gets the grease.

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Thank you
Penmon AKA Jim

boz48, I feel for you but fortunately, I can report the exact opposite experience, several times.

After time goes by you wonder if you should get paid rent for them to keep your gun. I just hope you get your gun back soon, FIXED this time.

First off does it have wooden grips or the regular plastic grips? If you have the wooden talo grips the you might not be pushing the magazine up far enough in the gun for it to latch. Just a bit of a thing to check before you get any more upset at S&W.

Is there any way you can post some pics of your 22a? Someone here may be able to help you without sending it back to smith and wesson. Best of luck and hope it works out for you.

Not at all the experiences "I " have had with S&W....my experience is that they have bent over backwards to make it right for me...

.maybe it is in the way I asked for their help......

Randy

I appreciate all of your concern. My main problem, not withstanding my pistol not being fixed, is one of communication. Some of your posts brought up sending messages and talking to people about the problem. That is something that never occurred with S&W before. I called and called, I emailed and emailed, and was ignored. The note you get after you receive an email is to give them 5 days to respond. I waited for 15 and then it was I who initiated contact, not S&W. I know that this company doesn't put out **** or they would not be in business but they sure screwed the pooch on this one. I spoke to a manager from the gun store I purchased it from and he is the one that told me it would take several more weeks. On the wooden grip comment, it has plastic grips and I firmly pushed the mag into place every time I loaded the weapon. I am no beginner and I know how to load and place a magazine. I am not happy having to do this as I don't go around looking for company's to trash as a hobby. I am sincerely annoyed and at this moment I do not want a S&W product anywhere near me. Thanks for being honest and courteous and not trashing me for some kind of loon. It pains me to not have a quality weapon that I wanted when I bought this pistol almost as much as it pains me to not have the money I spent immediately refunded by the shop I bought it from. Thanks.

You're pi**ed off after 9 weeks? My brand new unfired Model 41 has been at a Canadian warranty depot for over 10 months now and S&W won't give them a RMA number so it can be returned to the factory for repair. I'm guessing it's going to take 2-3+ years before I see it again. It's $1500 tied up in a P*O*S*gun.

If I were to be going through the same thing you were, I believe I would have went to the factory and stood on someone's desk by now. I know how frustrating it can be to deal with a large corporation and be kept in the dark. And yes, I am po'd after 9 weeks! Shouldn't I be? I tried and tried to get in touch with S&W forever it seems and as I write this I am on hold listening to the muzak piped through the phone. I am waiting to speak to a manager and maybe that manager's manager until I get something solid from someone. This is beyond unacceptable from a company of this stature. While speaking to the rep while I was at the store I bought the pistol from he said that "we have broken every promise to you" over and over. This doesn't make anything right and the fact that it will take more time to make it right is hard to swallow. Good luck with your model 41. I hope they make it right for you.

I was nothing but totally polite to everyone I spoke to at S&W, if that's what you are implying, sir. I don't go around being rude to people, especially those who I need help from. It should not matter what tone of voice I use or what kind of letter I write, to be honest. These people supply a service, I bought that service from them and deserve to be taken care of, no matter how I "ask for their help".

I am happy that you have had positive results from S&W. Is there anyone that you haven't had them with? Were you as understanding of them when they messed you around? Did you pontificate about how you should be fair to that entire company? I somehow doubt it, sir. To be sure, S&W has put out millions of fantastic pistols and long guns. This one is not the case. If I had received answers to my emails or calls, if I had received my pistol back in working order and not covered in soot maybe I would be feeling differently. That was not the case. I may in the future purchase another weapon from them but right now I have an incredibly bad taste in my mouth about the entire corporation. I am on child and don't go around insulting people. It's not right to do so and I understand that the people on the phone were not the ones who manufactured my pistol so why would I be rude to them? If they take care of my issues it will go a long way to reinstating my feelings about the company. If I am forced to wait for another incredibly long time for nothing then it will go even further to how I perceive them and how I speak about them to others looking to purchase a handgun or other weapon. I am sure you understand my feelings here. Good day, sir.

I have had good experiences with S&W service. It's been 5 years or so since the last time.

Quite a lather you've worked up...do as you please. But if you don't want to hear other opinions then don't post.

First off, S&W sucks at communication with service customers. Emails are seldom responded to. Hold times can range from reasonable to extreme. Getting a phone call returned is next to impossible.

Secondly, they don't clean guns. New/repaired guns are not cleaned after test firing. At least it shows that they fired the weapon.

Third, there are no set turn around times for repairs. It can be a couple of weeks, or many months.

S&W lost one of my guns for a couple of weeks while it was in for repair. It was irritating to say the least, but I have other guns, so it did not harm me. They found it, and it is all good now. I still believe S&W is the best major firearms company today, and I will gladly buy more.

Good luck to the OP. Life is too short to get this stressed out over plinker.

Get a BuckMark and move on with your life.

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-jwk-
US Army '72-'95

Well, I had to send back my 22A pistol again. I have a 22A that releases the magazine while firing. No matter how hard I try it will not release while not firing without pushing directly on the mag release. This is the third time I have had to send it back to the factory and I am not entirely happy. For some background, I sent it back a few months ago and they kept it for 9 weeks, sent it back filthy, and it was not repaired. The second time it was sent back in a timely manner but still doesn't work. I am wondering how they test these weapons at the warranty facility. Everyone who has fired it has had the same thing happen, two shots into the mag and it drops about a half an inch, far enough so that it will not advance the next round. At that point the pistol becomes a club. Do they not fire them by hand? I can't believe that it only does this at my house. I also can't believe that it only happens to people I know personally. I have let everyone I know fire this weapon and it does the same thing. I don't trust this weapon. It is not my primary carry obviously but if it was the closest thing to me when bad things happened and I had to defend my family and livelihood with it I feel I would be in trouble. I have asked for a refund but was told that "policy" was that they could not do so. At this point the factory has had this weapon longer than I have. I know that S&W doesn't go around making awful weapons or they would not be in business. I guess I'm just the "lucky one" who ended up with this inoperable weapon that cannot be fixed. To anyone who is thinking about buying a 22A with a 7" barrel, don't do it! Thanks for letting me vent, over.

I can appreciate your rant, I've been there with other brands. One was a Ruger LCP that was returned three times before they replaced it with a new gun. Similar experiences w/Springfield and S&W. Eventually all three companies made things right but not w/o a good deal of frustration on my part.

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Old Cop
LEO (Ret.)

I'm sure you can appreciate my frustration with this company, sir. I bought from this company because I didn't expect a problem like this and that's is what makes it so nerve racking, I guess. If I wanted a piece of ***** I would have bought a HiPoint or a KelTec. Now I have friends who are balking about buying a S&W because of this and I don't really know how to feel about that. I am sure that the vast majority of their products are 100% fantastic but when something like this happens it scares the **** out of people and rightly so. I was going to purchase an M&P .40 or .45 but that is no longer an option. Had they only returned my gun in a timely manner and corrected the first time............. Oh, well. If if's and but's were candies and nuts then every day would be Christmas, right? Thank you for your service, Old Cop.

That is a rough deal. I doubt Smith-Wesson realizes how many potential customers they lost on this deal. Stay after them.

Well, the 22A came back for the third time and so far it is working. That, in itself, is not the problem. I practically begged the people at S&W to refund my money because I do not trust their product but I assume by there response that they would rather hold on to the $300+ dollars than have a happy customer. Even though I told them that I had lost confidence and just wanted to get away from this bad deal they sent me back a pistol that not only do I not want or trust I am also stuck with a money losing experience. I now have a pistol that I cannot sell or trade without losing the great majority of my hard earned money. Instead of just letting me go and maybe regaining me as a customer at a later date they have ensured that I, along with several of my close friends, will NEVER buy a Smith & Wesson product for as long as we live. I guess they have enough money and customers that they don't need mine or my friends business. I guess that instead of admitting that they had sold a piece of **** weapon and refunding my money they had to prove that it could be fixed. I don't care if it does work properly now because it is past the point of me ever trusting it to be anything other than a door stop or paper weight. If I trade it in I might get a little over a hundred for it and if I sell it outright the most I can get(without taking advantage of someone) is under $200 according to all the pistol value books I have read. So, I wish you all the best and hope that you never have to go through what I went through with this company. DO NOT BUY A 22A with a 7' barrel unless you want a piece of junk! I have sworn off this company and will never say a good thing about them or their products as long as I am on this earth. Compared to bad press, how much would a refund have cost them? Too much I guess.

i understand your issue...i bought a mossberg 715t that made 2 trips back to mossberg and sold it. it was made before the "gun rush of 2013". both times it went back, it was within the one year warranty and it was like pulling teeth to get mossberg to take it back. it came back and still was not 100% so i sold it to a friend(he was made well aware if the history) for about $35-$50 less than what i had in it...i would not purchase that model again as it is produced in spain, but would have no issues buying one of their american produced models.

having said that, you bought a firearm that was in all likely hood, produced at a time when many new guns were spoken for before they even left the manufacturer. production was ramped up and all manufacturers were trying to run on 10 cylinders when they only had 6. the company honored their LIFETIME warranty by repairing your firearm to 100% for you, with zero to minimal cost to you. not only that, but for as long as you own that gun, it will be repaired for free again if something else should malfunction. if i still had that mossberg, my 1 year warranty would have been up last august.

i hope i am not feeding a glock fanboy troll with this...

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SDMF

It`s a .22A, A rather inexpensive little plinker never intended to be a major defensive weapon,that must be totally reliable. I believe the OP is overreacting . Granted he has just cause to be unhappy with his pistol, but "come on man" they fixed the blooming thing . Get over it.

Cya.... wouldn't want to be ya...

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Jack C

See if they'll put money from the 22a towards a 41. Then you'll have one of the best around, that will retain value, and if they go for it would be able to recover some of the money you'd otherwise lose with the 22a.

let's break it down

• is 300 bucks a lot of money?.............yep
• does the OP have a right to be annoyed for having to send it back 3 times.....yep..
• does S&W give a satisfaction or you money back garuntee???....dont think so
• has S&W lived up to their end of stated warranty to this point??...yep..sounds like it

OK then move along...nothing more to see here

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witty signature goes here

I'm sorry for your pain & I'd be upset too. But I think expecting a complete refund is unrealistic. If it works & you don't want it anymore (for whatever reason), then sell it & move on - that's what we all do. I'm sure S&W wants you to be happy, but they aren't going to buy customers. You bought it, it wasn't right, they fixed it (although it may have taken too many trips back) - & that is what their lifetime warranty is all about.

If I was as unhappy as you are - and given the circumstance I might be - I'd sell it or trade it in on a Ruger or Browning.

That is the reason I stick to used vintage S&W guns. I personally am not crazy about their "modern" line of guns. Everything I own is at least 25 yrs old or older.

Just a little over reacting??!?!?!?

It's a 22lr. I have never met a 22lr firearm that I would trust. Most are finicky, ammo sensitive and generally not intended to be a defensive weapon.

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