Is S&W Customer Service Normally Good?

[Hodgin]

Sorry to hear about your problem with the BG 380. Generally, S&W is noted for excellent customer service but unfortunately your problem has come up during their shutdown. Hope they can take care of you soon. Keep us updated on the situation.

There was a thread on this topic a few days ago.

 

[timn8er]

I've posted about this before, but since you're fairly new, I'll post it again. I had a SV40VE(Sigma)that I bought new in 2007. I couldn't stand the trigger, so I tried one of the numerous UTube fixes, which involved removing one of the springs from the sear block. I blew it, managing to lose one of the springs while taking it apart. Unfortunately,it was the spring I needed! I put it back together & tried it anyway. It worked great for three or four rounds, then quit. I called S&W to see if I could buy the spring, & the CS rep asked me why I wanted the part. I explained what I had done, & he told me he would send me a call tag. When I received the tag, I sent the gun back to S&W, with a note explaining what I'd done, Taking full blame for the problem. Three or four weeks later, I got the gun back, repaired. No freight charge, no parts charge. No cost to me at all, even though I caused the problem. So yeah, I would say S&W Customer Service is pretty good. They're aces with me!

 

[WaMike]

My name is not Grasshopper and you have a funny way of viewing the customer / vendor relationship.
Did it make you feel good to post that immature smart remark?

Sure made me feel good when I read it.

Sometimes it's odd the things that stick in the memory chip. When I was young, my uncle, who was an ornery old coot, was Nebraska state pistol champ. He had to send one of his revolvers back for something, and I recall his grousing that since it was their annual vacation time, it would be several weeks before he got it back.

That was about 60 years ago.

some things never change.....

 

[Woodman90]

My first experience calling customer service today. Waited 20 minutes. They had the part I needed, as I can't find it anywhere. Oh, and on top of that, they didn't charge me for it. Wow. Guess I remember why I buy their guns. Way to go S&W!

 

[BE Mike]

I've had no bad experiences with S&W customer service when I've rarely needed it. I would imagine that with a lot of new gun owners out there, S&W is getting a lot of calls about fixing guns with very minor problems (or even falsely perceived problems) and that might be gumming up the works a little. Instead of grasshoppers, it probably resembles a plague of locusts. Over the years, I've usually expected a 6 weeks turn-around for gun repairs. To today's, "I want it all and I want it now!" crowd that probably seems like an eternity.

 

[losingle]

Guess its all about expectations, customer services when queried about turn around for other than warranty repair, expect 6 month turn around not 6 weeks. Express service no longer applies. Referring to forum members in derogatory terms, grasshoppers/locusts is a buggy thing to do.

 

[ladder13]

I only call about real important stuff like "when was my gun made?"

 

[gpmilliken]

Update from the OP - SW Cust Service Question

I supposed my original question ended up being a bit trollish but that wasn't my intention. I just wanted to know if the bulk of the people had good or bad experiences with SW cust serv so I could adjust my expectations if needed.

They created the web form for customer service, not me.

I'm going to take the advice and pick up the phone and call them today as I have still had no contact from SW and the time they advised me to wait has pretty much expired.

I'm not adverse to using the phone, in fact I spend most of my day on the telephone as part of my job. Nothing beats person-to-person communication for getting things done.

I certainly got a variety of responses from the members; including some less flattering assumptions about my age, intelligence and patience.

One things is for sure; Many of you are passionate and loyal customers and that pleases me because it means in the end SW is doing something right to inspire that loyalty.

Thanks for all the input and feedback.

George

PS I'm old enough to have watched Kung Fu in the evenings when it was originally aired.

 

[booner67]

I too just purchased a Bodyguard that had to be sent back for service. The M&P Shield recall was announced shortly after they returned from the 2 week shutdown, so I'm sure their Customer Service is swapped.

 

[maddog909]

From my experience S&W's customer service has been nothing short of excellent......a rare thing these days!

 

[billcox1962]

Same Situation

I too purchased a BG380 at the end of July. The laser promptly failed on round 35 the same day. I emailed S&W and received the same email about their shutdown. When a person did answer my email the next day, I was told to ship the laser (my own cost), insure it for $250 (really?) and track it. After waiting for a month (with no response from S&W), I emailed again. Eventually I received an email instructing me to call Roz in receiving. I got her VM, but she returned my call the same day and told me that S&W upgraded their computer system during the two week shut-down and was experiencing various problems to include sending out no-cost replacement parts. She told me that S&W did receive my broke laser and to (hopefully) expect the replacement laser in 14-16 days. If it arrives as stated that will be 6 weeks which is a little long for a replacement part on a new gun (IMO). However, given the circumstances, I understand. I am glad I found this thread. After reading, it appears that the majority of the time S&W CS is great. I will be patient and see how things turn out. Thanks for the help and reassurance.

 

[raidersrule]

I have only one S&W CS story...

I bought a heavily carried but lightly used 5906 last year. I shot the snot out of it when it suddenly began double-feeding (failure to extract).

I called S&W and received a return label. Two weeks later I got my pistol back with a new magazine (I didn't send one in with it) and a fully functional handgun.

Couldn't have been happier. Made me very please that even though I am by no means the first owner of the firearm they treated me as if I was.