S&W seriously dropping the ball....

[Tytan01]

My M28 has been at the S&W Service Dept for so long now, I've actually forgotten what it looked like.

I sent this gun to them in March and have just been informed today, over 6 months later, that they still haven't touched the gun.

I had ordered a Test and Tune and rebluing for the gun. I sent it in and waited.

1-1/2 Months later I'm contacted and was told they can't do the Test & Tune because of the tapered barrel. All they can due is the Rebluing. So we agree on that and I go back to waiting.

2 Months later I am contacted again and am told they are charging my card to do the rebluing and it will be another 6 to 8 weeks before it's completed and ready to ship back. My card gets charged and I start the clock.

Today I call because the expected ship date has come and gone with no word on the gun being done.... and the mongo I get on the phone tells me they still haven't touched the gun and they don't even show having charged my card so no work was done because of that.

So I inform them of the amount and the date of when they charged my card and I get put on hold.....the Rep comes back and tells me he has to verify that but it would still be another 6 to 8 weeks even if they verified it today because I would be at the back of the schedule.

I ask to speak to a manager and I get sent to voicemail. Then the line clicks dead before I can leave a message.

I'm really not liking S&W right now.

 

[7tenz]

You got to be kidding. I complained when it took them, what 6 weeks to get my Model 69 back for what was likely a 1 hour job, April 2017 iirc. Sat in return shipping for 2 1/2 weeks.

 

[sigp220.45]

The few times I had to use it, I was not impressed with S&W customer service.

 

[rubiranch]

I would never send a gun back to S&W for anything.

 

[Tytan01]

I would never send a gun back to S&W for anything.

I definitely won't be after this. I have at least 4 revolvers I was planning on sending in to get work and rebluing done but I was holding off until I got the M28 back. I wanted to see their rebluing work. That's scrubbed now.

Last summer I had sent back a Walther PPK that S&W built when they had the license to get recall work done and it was a total of 4 weeks. So I assumed that was their usual level of work and sent the M28 in.

Learned my lesson. The 4 week turn-around was obviously the fluke and not the norm.

 

[Tytan01]

You got to be kidding. I complained when it took them, what 6 weeks to get my Model 69 back for what was likely a 1 hour job, April 2017 iirc. Sat in return shipping for 2 1/2 weeks.

And to me that is just about a reasonable time frame. Giving shipping time...customer's ahead of me and all that. 6 weeks is the longest I would consider reasonable.

6 Months +...that's a load a horse hockey. I don't care about imaginary pandemics, vacations, re-tooling shut downs and the 900 OTHER excuses they've given me. You are either able to handle customer needs or you're not. If you're not...you shouldn't be accepting jobs until you are.

S&W is basically robbing people at this point. Very poor customer service.

 

[dmn57]

I guess I got lucky. S&W received my 15 6/29 for rebluing, and I got it back about a week ago. Not exactly faster than a speeding bullet, but not unexpected with all that is going on. And the gun looks great.

 

[hittman77]

Ahhh ... the covid era.

How does this square with the folks who'll send away $3k (or more) and wait two or three YEARS for a custom gun?

In a perfect world they'd have enough staff and be efficient enough to not make mistakes like this but alas ..... the world ain't perfect.

 

[Tytan01]

I guess I got lucky. S&W received my 15 6/29 for rebluing, and I got it back about a week ago. Not exactly faster than a speeding bullet, but not unexpected with all that is going on. And the gun looks great.

I'm reading that and I'm starting to think they either lost or damaged my gun and are stalling me.

 

[walkin jack]

Before I would go through ANYTHING like that I'd just be tickled to death to let a local facility take care of it and to heck with the cost. This isn't a toaster or microwave we're talking about. Someone tries keeping one of my guns and jerking me around is gonna have me jumping up and down on his desk and calling him some very ugly names.

Just reading the op made me furious. Sorry for the rang.

I hope that you will eventually get your M28 back and lookin' good. If you ask me you deserve for someone over there to intervene in your behalf and get you fixed up. Good luck. and Please let us know how it turns out.

 

[7tenz]

I would never send a gun back to S&W for anything.

I felt my problem was likely a factory fix only, besides being still under warranty having had it only a few months.

 

[Sgt911]

Hmm, I sent four revolvers in Oct of last year. I got all back in 6 weeks I think, and three were for complete finish. I Got a couple calls too and they were super friendly. They changed a front sight on one gun for free with me asking verbally over the phone.

 

[kraynky]

The last time I sent a gun back to S&W was about 1998, and service was pretty good back then. From what I've heard and read in the last 6 months to a year, I would only send one to them if it had fallen apart under warranty. And fortunately I only have one that falls in that category, a 351PD. And it seems to be serving me well, other than that horrible trigger, however it's only a yard gun for walking the dog. I've fired a couple of cylinders of regular 22 magnum rounds through it, and a random shotshell. So far so good.

I would hate for them to have my model 28 in their hands, especially at this date & time. Maybe you should just ask for the return of your funds and have the gun returned home. Find someone local, or at least dependable, to do the work.

2020 has been a weird year in every form and fashion. If anything can go wrong, I believe this is the year it would happen, to me at least.

I do wish you the very best of luck in getting it back. If you have to contact your credit card company to get a refund, do it. Just tell S&W to stop staring at it and send it back.

Just my opinion.

 

[Sistema1927]

Maybe I have a faulty idea as to what constitutes "Test and Tune", but I am scratching my head as to why a tapered barrel would be a deal breaker. (On top of all the rest of the run around.)

 

[Beemerguy53]

It definitely sounds to me like they're stalling...or they're just amazingly stupid.

This might be worth a call or email to ATF, to ask if a local agent or investigator in Springfield could verify that they didn't lose your 28.

 

[jeffsmith]

SNIP
This might be worth a call or email to ATF, to ask if a local agent or investigator in Springfield could verify that they didn't lose your 28.

as much as I Sympathize with the OP

Escalating and making this Literally a "Federal Case"
Seems a bit much

Even IF it IS lost Bringing the ATF in Not only Brings Scrutiny to S&W
Which I am sure they can weather quite easily
It might even bring some questions for the OP

 

[Golphin]

You would have been better off telling them to ship it back and give you a refund then have Fords Custom Gun Refinishing in Florida do it for you.

 

[Rpg]

I’m always a bit amused by folks who want custom gunsmith work done in a few weeks or months. Anyone who knows the custom gunsmith world knows that months or years are the industry standard.

Smith does a ton of warranty work: canted barrels, magazines dropping out of Bodyguard 380’s, funky finishes, Bodyguard 38’s that freeze up, etc. I suspect that the employees assigned to work on guns are pretty slammed by Smith’s policy of having end users do the quality control for their products.

Add to all that the slowdown that’s certainly attributable to Covid (it’s real folks) as well as Smith’s long standing policy of closing down for a few weeks in August and they may not be able to meet their traditional quick turnaround.

Refinishing is custom gunsmith work. I imagine that custom gunsmith work is a lower priority than warranty work.

As an aside, I’m curious why anyone would have Smith refinish an older gun like a M28: Smith can’t replicate the original finish. For that, you have to go to Fords or one of the few custom shops that do refinishing. Of course, they take a while and aren’t as inexpensive as Smith’s advertised price.

It’s certainly possible that Smith ‘lost’ the order. These things happen occasionally with vast operations like Smith’s.

OP may get Smith to move his work to the front of the line once he gets them to find his order, his payment and his gun.

I’d have Smith refund the payment and return the gun.

Then I’d call Fords.

 

[Nightowl]

Just to make a little comparison!
A few years back, I sent a Python back to Colt for a reblue and repair the timing. It came back in about 11 months and cost as much as a new Smith 686! The timing repair was $225. If it had been a Smith, a wider hand could have fixed it in ten minutes for about $20.

 

[DWalt]

My only recent experience was with a SCCY 9mm I picked up cheap about a year and a half ago. I had a little problem so I called SCCY, talked with a tech, he told me to send it in ($25 for shipping both ways). They turned it around in about 10 days, and it worked fine afterward. No other charges, and they even threw in a new magazine. That's service.