Smith & Wesson M&P 40 Poor Warranty

[Donnieg3212]

I recently sent my Smith & Wesson M&P 40 back to S&W for Lifetime Warranty service. The mag catch and trigger group had froze do to internal heating from discharging ammo out of my gun. I had received a phone call from a Joe N. in their customer service dept in repairs telling me there was nothing they could do,they wouldnt fix the gun, wouldnt replace the internals and told me someone probably heated this gun to do this. But offered me another gun at a discounted price. If this had been another company like taurus,hi-point,jiminez,remington, ruger, they would've fixed the problem. I have already paid 500.00 for one,what makes me what to spend another 280.00 for more problems. As far as i am concerned and from what i was told when i bought the gun "Smith & Wesson was only know for their revolvers,i dont know about their semi-autos." Well i found out they are junk and the lifetime warranty that comes with them is junk also. They will fight with you like a child like this fellow fought with me. A poor excuse for a Warranty, a poor excuse of Manufacturing,and poor customer service. All buyers looking to buy one of these pistols beware this may happen to you as it happened to me.

 

[MSG Glenn]

That's a shame. All I can recommend is to give S&W another call & hope you get someone else from CS on the line. From what I've been reading online it seems each representative will give a different answer.

 

[Lee in Quartzsite]

What the heck does "The mag catch and trigger group had froze do to internal heating from discharging ammo out of my gun." mean???? Something here sounds fishy because all guns were designed to run hot "from discharging ammo" . Being that this is your first post on this forum you should have posted a couple of photos to enlighten the group to your specific problem.

As to S&W customer service I have found they are the best in the business, and if they refused to fix your gun it was probably because it suffered some damage from something other than shooting it. Sounds to me like they made you a generous offer considering it had frozen internals!

 

[JJEH]

Can you post a picture please?

 

[shawn mccarver]

I am skeptical, to say the least. It sounds to me like S&W determined that someone did something to the gun that is not authorized.

Heat gun to re-bend the dust cover? Something else? After-market parts? I don't know, but I have heard seemingly countless complaints about the M&P series.

Those complaints range from light strikes, to magazine drops, to sight dots falling out, to sights that are too tight, sheared off slide rails from non-gunsmith amateur night out sight adjustment, from weak or non-tempered mag springs, to bad mag followers, to you name it - enough to make me have confidence problems in the line. And that doesn't even count the mysterious, as yet not fully explained anywhere Shield problems.

That said, I have NEVER heard of one locking up from too much heat from firing. That sounds VERY questionable to me. The tolerances on the M&P are just not that tight.

I'm sorry, but I just find the complaint that the internals "froze" up from firing nearly unbelievable without more. Despite some of the documented difficulties with S&W service, I still trust them more than this complaint, mainly because the complaint itself doesn't make sense. It is a problem you just never hear about in handguns.

These M&P pistols have been tested by rapid fire until the slide is too hot to touch without causing serious burns to the hand. And they did not lock up the internal parts.

I'm going with S&W on this one. If they think someone messed with the gun, I am surprised they are offering you a discounted replacement.

Oh, and if you think the service on Taurus or the other makes would be any different if they thought someone had applied heat and caused problems, I think you are either naive and unrealistic or you are just clueless about the way companies work. I don't know of any that will fix one intentionally ruined by an owner.

Did you buy it new from a reputable dealer? You did not tell us that. I would go back and have a serious talk with the prior owner to see what he did. And if it was a dealer, don't assume that some dealers do not pass off used guns as new if the warranty card is still in the box, or that the dealer himself did not take it out of stock and shoot it or modify it, then sell it with the warranty card still in the box, figuring the lifetime warranty would cover anything the dealer did.

The possibilities are endless. And the complaint is just outside the realm of what I have ever heard of with regard to any handgun.

 

[Rastoff]

The mag catch and trigger group had froze do to internal heating from discharging ammo out of my gun.

How many rounds did you fire and in what time span?

 

[Smitty357]

First post and u post this.

Good job man, u have us all wanting to sell our Smiths and buy something worse.

PS: He's so anxious to make us believe it that he even posted this twice.

 

[Donnieg3212]

Smith & Wesson M&P Handgun Poor Warranty

i did nothing special, to my gun. Its in there hands at the moment if you want pictures, when you shoot all day reholster your gun, put it up in the truck and come back to find you cannot remove your magazine, nothing was heated, if it was heated there would be damage to the polymer everywhere, it would start to melt like a plastic bottle. I couldnt even move my trigger, it was froze. I had to remove the magazine bottom,spring n follower to assure smith & wesson it wasnt loaded. I loved this gun before this happened, it was my carry gun, but it was not a generous offer to make me purchase another and then destroy my old firearm.Yes smith & wesson wants to keep my old firearm if i decide to buy the other,well not here fellas, i will go with the sig p225 like i should've bought. Atleast i wont have any problems there ever again,and wont have to worry about Smith & Wessons poor Warranty Service.

 

[forrestinmathews]

You've got to be kidding me. What did you have fifty hicap mags on a table and just run run run? I figure you'd have to run 3-5k straight through the gun to have that happen. I'm guessing whatever it is, you did it. Nobody would be stupid enough not to function check the gun prior to purchase.
This doesn't equate. You'd be having cook offs well before the internals melted and seized up. The gun being fired this much would be a destructive test and therefore abuse and not covered by warranty.

 

[Lee in Quartzsite]

Guess you should have bought a Glock.............

Glock 17 Explosive Ammo! - YouTube

 

[Lost Lake]

We don't mean any disrespect by being skeptical. You are new here and I'm not saying you are making up a wild story, but we do get people from time to time that come on here bashing S&W for poor customer service and they usually have wild claims like their slide melted or the grip crumbled in their hands, or maybe the gun went fully automatic, you know wild stuff like that.

A common trait is they talked to a CS rep or sent in their gun and S&W flatly denied coverage or refused to return the gun. Most will then swear allegiance to Glock or Ruger or some other manufacturer, swearing they are DONE with S&W.

Kind of funny, but it's a pattern that is repeated over and over.

So when you posted your initial post it fell right into the exact same cadence of so many of the, what we call, 'Trolls' posts.

I wish you the best of luck, and recommend you call S&W again and speak with a CS supervisor. It has been my experience that S&W has fabulous customer service and is always willing to pay to ship a gun back so they can make amends.

Good luck to you, that is a fine gun.

.

 

[shawn mccarver]

but it was not a generous offer to make me purchase another and then destroy my old firearm.Yes smith & wesson wants to keep my old firearm if i decide to buy the other,well not here fellas, i will go with the sig p225 like i should've bought. Atleast i wont have any problems there ever again,and wont have to worry about Smith & Wessons poor Warranty Service.

As the SIG 225 has been out of production for years, I see you were looking at used pistols. If this was a used pistol, perhaps the previous owner did something.

The only time I ever had S&W offer a replacement firearm was perhaps the best example of how GOOD their warranty service is. I purchased a well-used LE trade-in revolver. It had surface freckling on the top of the frame, but the price was right.

I sent it in to have it gone over and reblued. They called and said the barrel had a crack and it could not be repaired as they no longer had barrels for that revolver - Model 13. It wasn't even a new gun, and they knew that. It was not repairable and unsafe. They offered a NEW model 65 at a way drastically reduced price. They did not have to do that.

The fact that they are offering a new pistol at a reduced price tells me your pistol was damaged and is not repairable or safe in its present condition. You may not have done it on THAT day on THAT range trip, but someone did something, somewhere that finally caught up to you or the gun.

I still maintain that the fact that S&W is offering you a brand new replacement for such a price is proof that they have EXCELLENT warranty service.

 

[Jyezahn]

Their warranty is solid. Obviously something leads them to believe it was not a faulty weapon and they are not responsible.

 

[Donnieg3212]

i appreciate your welcoming me to the forum and this isnt one of these wild stories that people make up. I never saw anything wrong with a smith & wesson until this happened to me. The firearm was great to, i carried it all the time,i chose it over a Sig p225 which was now dumb. But anyways it went with me about where ever i went, now due to this childish acting customer service repair rep. that fought with me about this, all i wanted was my gun fixed. Not a new gun, but my gun fixed under the lifetime warranty on M&Ps. But no the rep. wasnt having none of this. He was set on me spending another 300.00 actually 280.00 on another firearm to perhaps chance this again. I wouldnt spend another dollar on a polymer smith & wesson unless mine was fixed first.

 

[Rastoff]

Donnieg3212,
I understand that you're upset. I would be too. In order to help others not have this same problem, please tell us some of the details.

How many rounds did you shoot and in what time period? What kind of holster did you put it in? How long was it before you noticed the problem?

 

[BrianE]

Hmm, before I settled for that answer, especially from the 1st person I spoke with absolutely would not happen. I would have spoke with their superior and requested it be repaired or a better explanation... Then to come on a S&W forum only to express what junk the firearm is on your first post doesn't fetch anything positive. I'd call back and speak with another rep or manager. I understand your frustration, but I think you're jumping ahead of yourself. Good luck.......

 

[kennyb]

they are not going to return a gun that cannot be fixed....thats always been the case...try a taurus they have a lifetime warranty..and should you buy one....you will use it!

 

[lhump1961]

I can tell you this...if you call with the same kind of language and attitude you display here then good luck. If this was a warranted issue it would be fixed, period. I just sent an M&P back for a minor issue...3 weeks door to door, fixed, no questions asked. I have NEVER had a problem with Smith's CS over a couple of decades. I will put my M&P's up against anything for accuracy, dependability, form and function.

Try talking to people to find out what your options are instead of throwing a fit...you might get a better result.

 

[Donnieg3212]

I will go over his head tomorrow with a supervisor. I have talked to this guy for 2 days, you must understand. This has been my firearm by my side for almost 2 yrs. I have gotten alot of use out of this weapon and its my carry pistol. When you get accustomed to shooting something, you want to stick with what you know. I am upset at the way this was handled and i thought would've been taken care of in a different manner than it was. I dont want to spend money on another firearm from this company, i just want mine fixed. Almost 800.00 out of pocket for one M&P .40 would upset you a little, when you could have almost (2)???

 

[Rastoff]

Are you intentionally ignoring my question or will the answer reveal something you don't want known?