Update: Smith and Wesson Customer Service and Quality Control (Extremely Negative)

[Blinkers]

Hello,

Thought I'd share my experience with buying a new M&P 2.0. I purchased a 5.0 in FDE with a thumb safety brand new. Upon further inspection the thumb safety did not engage the trigger bar, even when it was fully up. This allowed the safety to be on but the gun to fire. Smith and Wesson sent a return label but has had the pistol for 8 weeks and has not even looked at it.

This seems like very poor quality control and an excessively long wait to have a brand new firearm returned that did not work out of the box.

Yes, I am new. I don't normally join forums but I am frustrated by this experience. I have dealt with other firearms returns and no one has taken even close to this long. This also seems like an issue that should have been caught before it shipped.

I had read a couple other posts that had a similar issue and they just bent the thumb safety upward to engage the trigger bar. This would not have worked as it was already in the correct position and, in order to get full engagement, the thumb safety would sit way too high in the on and off position.

I will update with how long it takes and what the fix is.

Update: Tomorrow would be 10 weeks. Received the pistol back. It appears they did absolutely nothing. The thumb safety still does not work.

 

[Rpg]

I’m glad you caught this glitch before carrying the gun!

Smith shouldn’t have let the gun out of the shop. Unfortunately, Smith seems to have delegated quality control to the end user.

 

[.455_Hunter]

The manual safeties on many striker guns are poorly engineered afterthoughts and bear no resemblance to the integrated assembled shown in other platforms. Just last week, I examined a NIB .45 Shield at a LGS and the "safety" had zero retention in either station- just a piece of plastic free to slide up and down at the whim of whatever rubs against it.

 

[smoothshooter]

I’m glad you caught this glitch before carrying the gun!

Smith shouldn’t have let the gun out of the shop. Unfortunately, Smith seems to have delegated quality control to the end user.

Too many gun companies’ design engineers have no shooting background. Anyone familiar with the 1911 design would already know what the best thumb safety looks like, and would copy that as closely as possible.

 

[Blinkers]

The manual safeties on many striker guns are poorly engineered afterthoughts and bear no resemblance to the integrated assembled shown in other platforms. Just last week, I examined a NIB .45 Shield at a LGS and the "safety" had zero retention in either station- just a piece of plastic free to slide up and down at the whim of whatever rubs against it.

In the past I've been vehemently opposed to thumb safeties on striker guns but when my oldest was a toddler and started using my pistol as a foot rest when climbing on me, I figured a little extra security wouldn't hurt.

I specifically bought the M&P because it had a thumb safety.

 

[Blinkers]

I’m glad you caught this glitch before carrying the gun!

Smith shouldn’t have let the gun out of the shop. Unfortunately, Smith seems to have delegated quality control to the end user.

I used to carry Glocks so I doubt anything bad would have happened as I don't rely on the safety. However, it could have been terrible if a new gun owner had bought this particular pistol and relied on the safety at some point.

 

[.455_Hunter]

In the past I've been vehemently opposed to thumb safeties on striker guns but when my oldest was a toddler and started using my pistol as a foot rest when climbing on me, I figured a little extra security wouldn't hurt.

I specifically bought the M&P because it had a thumb safety.

No argument from me on why they are necessary. The only "modern" striker gun I own is a P99AS with full decock.

 

[waffles]

I had positive experiences with S&W cs in 2014. My experience last year was abysmal and led me to decide not to purchase any further new S&W products.

 

[Blinkers]

I had positive experiences with S&W cs in 2014. My experience last year was abysmal and led me to decide not to purchase any further new S&W products.

That's my current thought. I'll keep the ones I have that work, sell this one once it's fixed, and be done.

 

[PAgunman]

My experience with buying a brand new expensive S & W model 41 in August was disappointing. Very expensive gun with reliability issues. I think quality control is lacking at their factory because they will be moving to Tennessee soon and many workers will lose their jobs. Thus, they probably don’t care as much about quality control…..”screw them” might be their motto.

 

[sigp220.45]

As a long-time S&W owner my experience has been that their customer service is hit or miss. I think it just depends on whose desk your gun lands.

I’ve always had good luck with Ruger, but the fact I’ve used their customer service more often also says something.

Sorry for your troubles - that gun should have never gone out like that, and failing that they should have fixed it immediately and sent it back with some extra mags and their apologies.

 

[tjkoko]

When I sent my S&W 4516-1 in for repair to replace a leaf spring, the firearm was returned with a different barrel and I never achieved the pie plate accuracy it came with. Shots were sometime a foot apart. I complained to the service person and she replied that "We just picked up a barrel from the bench." The firearm was sold soon after.

Nuts to you S&W. You burned me.

 

[LCC]

Always best to closely examine any firearm at the LGS before purchasing, including special orders, as you are paying the LGS, not the manufacturer, to sell you a fully functional firearm. If you reject the firearm, it becomes the LGS problem, not yours.
Few years ago, while the owner of my LGS and I were checking out a requested order, he spotted a problem I missed, said he was going to send it back and order in another one for me.
Any LGS worth their salt would do the same.

 

[Model 10-8]

Did you disclose this to the person who bought it?

 

[Blinkers]

Always best to closely examine any firearm at the LGS before purchasing, including special orders, as you are paying the LGS, not the manufacturer, to sell you a fully functional firearm. If you reject the firearm, it becomes the LGS problem, not yours.
Few years ago, while the owner of my LGS and I were checking out a requested order, he spotted a problem I missed, said he was going to send it back and order in another one for me.
Any LGS worth their salt would do the same.

I looked it over, dry fired it etc but didn't think to put the safety on and attempt to pull the trigger.

Apparently I will have to add that to my function checks.

 

[Junkenstien]

Wonder how the plague has been treating them?Sent one in back in the spring and havent gotten it yet.

 

[BillD344]

Having a similar experience with customer service right now, bought a brand new Shield Plus and out of the box it had a dead trigger...Inoperable...called them up and they gave me the usual canned response and told me to send it back. 6 to 8 weeks, I asked them how it even left the factory and they couldn't seem to answer. One month of stewing and I finally sent a flamethrower email to their customer care dept. They said they would issue an "alert" to expedite. Currently going on 7 weeks and I'm convinced of them just shining me on. Totally unacceptable...
I'll have a hard time trusting this pistol if I ever even get to hold it. I'll be reconsidering doing business with S&W in the future. I own 7 of their pistols but due to their poor customer service there probably won't be an 8th..

Update: Got the pistol back after 11 weeks, repair sheet said that they replaced the trigger bar and test fired, looks like they shot the hell out of it as there was a pretty distinct brass ring on the breech face. I'm currently trust firing it and have gone 200 rounds with no issues. Shoots great and I like the pistol very much, just not the way I was treated by their Customer Service Dept. If a brand new gun is inoperable out of the box, that gun should move to the front of the line.

 

[Motorsporting]

I'm with ya. I asked them about sending me replacement fiber optic rods, since mine are clearly not working, and they wanted me to send in the entire slide for inspection. I told them hell no, I will just order new sights that aren't fiber optic (if I can find some to fit with the CTS Red-dot).

 

[Blinkers]

Having a similar experience with customer service right now, bought a brand new Shield Plus and out of the box it had a dead trigger...Inoperable...called them up and they gave me the usual canned response and told me to send it back. 6 to 8 weeks, I asked them how it even left the factory and they couldn't seem to answer. One month of stewing and I finally sent a flamethrower email to their customer care dept. They said they would issue an "alert" to expedite. Currently going on 7 weeks and I'm convinced of them just shining me on. Totally unacceptable...
I'll have a hard time trusting this pistol if I ever even get to hold it. I'll be reconsidering doing business with S&W in the future. I own 7 of their pistols but due to their poor customer service there probably won't be an 8th..

I'm at 9 weeks which is when they told me to call back. Their response today is near the end of January...

 

[Blinkers]

Well, it's back. They didn't do anything that I can see. The thumb safety still engages about 1mm of the trigger bar. Any pressure on the trigger or thumb safety allows the gun to be fired with the safety in the full on position.