Hanging out on gun forums CAN BE a really negative experience. That is because all of them - S&W, Glock, SIG Sauer, etc., etc. are overloaded with complaints.
I am not trying to discount the experience of the OP, but we must all take a breath and realize that the number of complaints is far outweighed by the silent majority who have good experiences, and therefore, do not feel the reason to bash.
I will offer these thoughts in no particular order: (1) I try to read through these types of threads to see pictures (almost never provided); (2) I check to see how many posts by the complainer (almost always an alarmingly low number - I have never joined a forum just to bash a product); (3) I am truly interested in the final diagnosis from S&W, and it is either never reported due to no follow-up by the complainer or the horrible weapon is sold in record time (hard to believe if it is so obviously defective such as when it is missing its rear sight - and yes, it could have been put back in, but how long does it take the new owner to figure that one out); (4) it always concerns me when I hear that a gun is so bad that the person writing will just never own (name your brand) again because I wonder if the condition was truly represented to the buyer; and (5) the telephone works just fine and in the case of almost any service call, I find that SPEAKING TO A LIVE PERSON in a polite way is ALWAYS very effective (we are or have raised a generation of people who do not know how to speak on the phone?).
Again, I am sorry for the OP's experience (I assume for purposes of this post that it has been accurately reported), but I would have spoken to someone at S&W, as I have always done on the exceedingly rare occasion when it was necessary. If it is sent back "on their dime," with free shipping, at least it is only time which is invested. I, for one, do not have the patience to wait for email responses as many complainers do when they post their experiences on this forum.
