S&W Customer Service is great

[shipwreck]

A few weeks ago, I sat down in a chair with my Ported Shield Plus 3.1" Performance Center pistol in my leather OWB holster... And, I damaged the crown of the barrel - when it banged against the arm rest of the chair. My OWB holster doesn't cover the entire bottom of the gun, so the gun hit the arm rest very, very hard.

On one part of the barrel, I took the black finish off, and there was some slight damage where the rifling ends. Then, when I shot the gun, it seemed like the normal accuracy was off just a little.

I contacted S&W - at first, they told me to buy a new barrel from a 3rd party company. But, I explained that you can only buy version 1 and 2.0 Shield barrels. No one is yet selling Shield Plus barrels, let alone a ported one. I was then sent a shipping label to send the gun in.

I did send it in, and I put a note stating that I would like to BUY a new barrel if possible. I asked them to contact me and I would give them a credit card. Well, after about 3 weeks, I got the pistol back. They GAVE me a new barrel. And, I went today and shot it finally. Gun works great now!

I am impressed that they replaced the barrel for free, when it was my stupid error that resulted in the damage. Plus, they paid for shipping both ways!

 

[Hawg Rider]

This is one of the few positive Posts concerning S&W Customer Service that I've seen recently. It's nice to hear. Most Posts have been negative, and even downright blistering! I'm sure that there are several circumstances that have affected the quality of some S&W products and the lack of satisfactory responses from S&W CS (COVID, staffing issues, increase in rapid development and production of firearms, etc.), but I would like to think that this is the exception, not the rule. Take for instance the issues with the M&P 10mm 2.0. I bought a new 10mm (4.625") last month despite the fact that there were some extremely negative Posts. So far, I have had no problems and am very happy with the pistol. It also seems that perhaps S&W management and CS dealt with those reported mechanical issues because the Posts have quieted down. We'll see. There is just too much competition in the pistol and revolver market for S&W to not back their products with excellent customer service.

 

[HughD1]

I have noticed that positive posts receive few comments. Negative posts will go on for days. Reminds me of something I had to memorize in high school in the 70s. "The evil men do lives on after them. The good is often interred with their bones." I am not sure I got that exactly right after forty plus years but that is in the neighborhood. I am happy S&W did you right and that you took the time to let us know about it.

Have a good day!

Hugh


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[Skyhunter]

It seems that it's easy to post negative reviews, not so much for the positive ones.
It's ALWAYS great to give credit where credit is due. Glad to hear that S&W Customer Service is improving - perhaps anyhow.

WYT-P
Skyhunter

 

[trapshooter870]

I too would like to commend S&W on their customer service. I recently had the laser assembly in my BG380 quit working. It had the Insight laser in it. I contacted S&W and they said it would take 6 weeks if I sent it to them for repair or I could contact Crimson Trace Laser System for purchasing one of their upgrade kits. I contacted Crimson Trace and they stated they had no upgrade kits available at this time. So I contacted S&W again and told them I would like to return the gun to them for repair. S&W sent me a prepaid FedEx label and I returned the gun. To my surprise I got the gun back in only 2 weeks and they had replaced the entire grip assembly with the Crimson Trace Laser version. No charge $$ Fantastic service !!! I have always been and always will be a S&W fan !!!!!

 

[WVDeere]

I've had nothing but good experiences with their customer service. I bought one of the 4.6 10mm when they came out. The trigger was gritty despite numerous cleanings and had quite a few failures to feed. Finally when shooting with a crimson trace red dot on it the Smith and Wesson supplied screws sheered off. I sent the gun back telling them it had some failure to feeds and of course the screws. When it returned they had replaced the entire slide!! Trigger is smooth as silk and have not had one ftf in several hundred rounds since. Idk what the difference is but the new slide really made a dramatic difference.


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[lhump1961]

I've seldom had need for S&W CS but when I did they were always good to me. Of course it's possible to get a rep who isn't perfect but that's not S&W...just a person. When it comes to the repair and replace policies they can't be beat.

One good example is my son-in-law bought a used (used up?) high mileage 3953TSW for a song a few years ago long after they stopped servicing and production of 3rd gens. The gun would fire slow but would fail to engage if fired too fast. Smith took the gun in, repaired it to full function, sent it back to him all free of charge. Bear in mind he was certainly not the original owner and Smith was under no obligation to do so. They did it anyway. He loves and regularly carries that gun.

When calling any company's CS a little patience and honey goes a long way. They have a lot of discretion when servicing complaints but a bad attitude and bullying will not get you the best result. Maybe that shouldn't matter but in reality it does.

I'm not surprised to hear of good experiences with S&W CS.

 

[Arenko]

I also had a good experience with S&W customer service, and it was entirely through email. I discovered that the sideplate top screw on my Model 27 classic was missing. I contacted CS to inquire about the part number so that I could search online for a replacement. They immediately sent me the replacement part for free! I have owned S&W revolvers and pistols since 1977, including several recent (internal lock) variants, and this was the only time any of them needed service.