Smith & Wesson Does Not Honor Written Warranty

[Gene K]

I suspect your owner's manual says the following;
Smith & Wesson will not be responsible for:
• Defects or malfunctions resulting from careless handling,
unauthorized adjustments or modifications made or attempted
by anyone other than a qualified gunsmith following Smith &
Wesson authorized procedures, or beyond the disassembly
instructions in this manual.
• Use of defective or improper ammunition, corrosion, neglect,
abuse, ordinary wear and tear, or unreasonable use.
• Criminal misuse, negligence, resale, use under the influence
of drugs or alcohol.
Smith & Wesson reserves the right to determine what constitutes
ordinary wear and tear.
This warranty gives you specific legal rights. You may also have
other rights that vary from state to state.
Note: All liability is excluded in the event that the instructions in
this manual are not observed.

My owner's manual says;
"The extended service policy covers functional defects; it does not include the handgun's finish, grips, magazines or sights".

The difference is that in mine S&W essentially defined the parts they considered part of ordinary wear and tear. In yours they simply state they reserve the right to determine what constitutes ordinary wear and tear.

PS In my owner's manual they state the Extended Service Plan only covers original owners who return the registration card or register online within 30 days of purchase.

 

[Denver Dick]

Unbelieveable thread. Life is waaaaay to short for this stuff.

 

[dkees]

Right on Denver Dick!

 

[vista461]

Personally, I'd not have thought to expect the company to warranty long term use, aging and general wear & tear on grips (plastic or wooden).

I just noticed it's a CS9, right? The grips are made by Hogue. Call them and see how they warranty them.

BTW, their vendor supplied night sights aren't covered under a lifetime warranty, either.

I agree with this, I wouldn't even think to have them replace a wearable part like grips unless they were bad the day I bought it and I purchased it new.

 

[gearchecker]

Doesn't availability have anything to do with this type of situation?
A warranty is not a guarantee; it's a warrant against serviceable parts and products, no matter what the manufacturer is. It the grips are no longer available because they are no longer produced by anybody it pretty much ends the conversation.
ALL plastic products deteriorate in time, period. The soft grips like the Hogue's will deteriorate very quickly if they are ever exposed to any petroleum product or petroleum type fumes. This also includes and cleaning fluids or solvents (Gun cleaning fluids/cleaners) If you ever exposed these grips to any petrochemical or solvent to the fumes of such products you automatically void any warranty that the grips may have had to begin with.

I work in the plastics industry and we always hold disclaimers against intentional or accidental miss-use of the product and exposure to chemical contamination in all of our manufacturing contracts.

Call Hogue and see what they say. Be considerate and soft spoken, it'll pay off in the end weather you get new grips or not.
Good luck

 

[presspics]

Your gripe is with Hogue not S&W. Call Hogue. To say that you are pissed at S&W for a part that they did not produce and a part that is inexpensive on top of it is a bit off base to me. I think that you're looking for a reason to be pissed. If you want to see bad customer service then buy a SIG or HK.

 

[bad_man_ one]

PS In my owner's manual they state the Extended Service Plan only covers original owners who return the registration card or register online within 30 days of purchase.

0849,
I see you are from New England, if it's Connecticut,
there it something in the laws that state you do not have to send any warranty cards in to have the registration be valid,
a sales receipt is all you need.
Regards,
BM1

 

[bulletproof-791]

i had a 4506-1 that the grip cracked at the pin hole ...called them up and told them ..got a mew set of grips in 3 days....when you call ask for paul or dan

 

[Racer X]

federal laws states that a manufacturer can't retroactively change a warranty. If his card has no exclusions, but exclusions were added in later years, his pistol is grandfathered in. FEDERAL LAW.

Nor is the owner required to mail something in for the warranty to be active. That is excluded in either the same, or a second law.

Now, that doesn't say they have the parts though.

 

[remat457]

Purchased new/original owner? They have replaced grips for me in the past.

 

[0849]

follow up

S&W sent me a replacement set of grips.

 

[markush]

Glad you stuck to your guns on this one and it worked out for you.

 

[Lostman]

I own several S & Ws, but have only had one experience with a warantee claim and it was very positive. Recently, I noticed a crack in the main body of the safety of my 4596, which I've used as a duty weapon and carry piece for more than 20 years. S & W repaired and returned the gun within 15 days and paid the shipping in both directions. Based on that, I'm very surprised that they sidestepped your claim for a relatively inexpensive pair of replacement grips. I recommend that you take it up again with Customer Service.

 

[remat457]

S&W sent me a replacement set of grips.

Oh good, because I didn't want to post that they just sent me a set of replacement grips for a 3rd gen manufactured in 1990.

 

[PMRet]

Don't know about the grips, but I have never had a problem with warranty service on any S&W. I have sent 4 in for service over the last couple of years, all of them over 20 years old, 3 of them I bought used. Things like decocker malfunction on a 3906, timing problem on a 640, etc. In each and every case they paid for shipping both ways, returned my gun in less than 3 weeks, and never once asked if I was the original owner. In my book, that is top shelf service.

 

[azasadny]

Excellent!! I'm glad that S&W took care of you...

 

[boingboing]

I have three TSW's all were bought used. Two of the three didn't come with warranty cards and Smith has always fixed em', no questions, no problems.

 

[oldman45]

I have a bunch of S&W handguns and most have seen more use than an average gun. Never needed their warranty but called them twice on other matters and they immediately took care of the situation for FREE.

Then I read this thread and see a person that is upset over a very cheap set of grips and bad mouths a company for something not their fault or problem.

Then I see the company corrects the problem and he gives a single sentence reply without saying that he may have been wrong in his judgement of S&W.

I look at it this way. Go buy any NEW car you want. Have a tire, battery or brake shoe go bad. The car may be under warranty but the out sourced parts are not. I bought a new Cadillac a few yrs back. The battery went dead four months to the day that I bought the car. Batteries are not covered by warranty and I was out $130 diagnostic fee to tell me a battery was dead when I already knew that, $114 battery that I could have bought elsewhere for $20 less and a $60 service charge at the dealer for installing a battery that took less than 5 minutes that I could have gotten installed for free where ever I bought a replacement battery.

Even better, I bought a motorhome for over a quarter million dollars. While it was under warranty with less than 4,000 miles and three months old, a fan belt broke. I called Freightliner and they sent a man out (50 miles one way) he replaced the belt. I was charged $482 for belt replacement and a road service charge. Granted, the belt is not something that the owner can replace but it is also not covered by warranty. I got a lot madder about the repair bill than I would have over a S&W grip price.

Grips will be a grey area. They are subject to abuse. They are more prone to breakage. They are not made by the gunmaker. I would not blame the maker for parts out of their control.

Also I noticed that the OP had an issue he was wanting assistance with on a same model gun during mid last year where he was wanting to change or modify a pair of grips to place on a CS9 and then later the gun was placed for sale here.

 

[turbo38gn]

X2 Oldman... I'm with you. This was ridiculous, I'm sitting on my keyboard cause I don't want to get nasty..

 

[handejector]

S&W sent me a replacement set of grips.

end of story.