my S&W Cust Service experience

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Sevens

New member
Good or lousy? You be the judge!

I e-mailed them on March 31 in need of a wee tiny, inexpensive little part -- an extractor pin. This is a solid pin that's 0.08" in diameter and 0.57" in length. It's length is the width (left-to-right) of my thumbnail. It's not a universal part, however-- my best research indicates that it fits only two models of handguns in their line, last built in 1990. Was attempting to fix a 26 year old pistol of mine.

They e-mailed back on April 3rd with what appeared to be an automated e-mail which said "Dear Customer, we do have that part in stock, please call us M-F 8am-8pm to order the part."

I will say I was hoping they would say "Hey! We've got one, where shall we ship it?" right through e-mail, but... okay.

I called April 8th and waited for 5 or 6 minutes on the phone system... getting worried that it would be a run-around, but to my surprise, I got a human voice and the guy was extremely easy to deal with. His computer told him that my research and his computer agreed and that it was a part that only ran in two models and not since 1990. He also said that it would cost more to ship it than the part would cost itself, so he was simply going to drop it in 1st class mail for no charge whatsoever. And I was extremely happy with this. :) He issued me a reference number for this "transaction."

I called again May 15th as I'd heard nothing, received nothing, and it had been more than a month. A similar wait on the phone system, and then another human voice. Also a nice guy to talk with, he took my reference number and told me the file was still active/open, and as I certainly knew... it had not been filled. They had sent nothing.

He was very frank and told me they were doing inventory and it was unlikely that it would be sent in the next week, so I would be looking at at least another couple weeks.

Gotta say that I was still allright with it, as it was *FREE* and at least now I knew that it hadn't gotten lost at S&W or lost in the mail.

The part finally arrived on Jun 10. No charge, and though I have no idea of the relative "rarity" of the actual part, it's not one they used in scads and tens of thousands of guns.

  • So it cost me no money at all
  • Both different guys were knowledgeable and friendly
  • The second guy was quite frank about the timetable
...but -WOW-
(arguably) the largest handgun maker in world history and certainly one of the biggest gun companies currently operating on this globe and it took them two months-plus to send me a part that's about the size and weight of a heavy duty staple.

Me? I was looking forward to reporting on my experience just to pass the word to others. I'm still quite happy that they sent me what I needed for zero dollars. I suppose if they had told me ahead of time it would take two months, I'd have groaned a bit but rolled with it.

But it sure seems excessive.

I will go back to them if/when I need to in the future, and I'll do it with a decent & hopeful attitude, but I really wanted to post a more favorable review here.

So torch me if ya think I have no business "complaining", around here that's likely to happen anyway! ;) but I still wanted to share the experience.

I do love the handgun... and I've got a number of S&W products and I'm always shopping for more of them.
 
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James K

Member In Memoriam
That is why, when I was a gunsmith, I would have made a part like that in a couple of minutes from a piece of drill rod or spring steel rod. Cost more? Sure, but I charged the customer only the same as the price of the part and shipping, and I figure I saved time and money, and kept the customer happy, by not having to wait on a part.

Jim
 
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Sevens

New member
I figured I had some options for that part. I have almost ZERO skill in "crafting" and scratch building, but we're literally talking about a pin of the proper length and diameter. I certainly did not know the proper length & diameter, but there's probably a little leeway in finding something that would "work."

I had other avenues I might have chased down if Smith & Wesson told me they had none, and it's certainly no stretch to come up with a pin of some sort that might do the job. But considering if I had the WRONG diameter (or perhaps length) I might either find myself launching the extractor (TROUBLE!) or worse... jamming a pin in to a hole and through the extractor and not having any way to remove it later if/when it didn't work... I was more comfortable with the waiting. :eek:
 
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salvadore

Moderator
Yeah you're a cry baby, I've sent two shooters back for work, one they tightened the gap adjusted the sights (fixed) and one other thing I can"t remember. The other was returned without any work being done and information saying everything was in spec., and a personal note encouraging me to clean it more often, which I do. S&W customer service is great.
 
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marine6680

New member
Two months is a while... But sometimes things fall through the cracks and get missed.


I recently called them about a part, and I got it a couple weeks later. This Tue as a matter of fact.

I also inquired about purchasing a couple spare parts and they gave them to me free as well. It was only about $5 of stuff, but still, they had no obligations to give them away.
 
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southjk

New member
Seems to me that you got what you paid for. :D Two months does seem like a long time when you are on the receiving end but if it was me I don't think I could get too upset about it.
 
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DaleA

New member
James K said-
That is why, when I was a gunsmith, I would have made a part like that in a couple of minutes
Click to expand...

My experience is that might have happened with my local gunsmiths AFTER the two months of orders ahead of mine were completed.:D

With the CNC machines and 3-D printers I really do expect that some time in the future companies will put the part specs out on their web sites and you can down load 'em, email 'em to your local fabrication shop and pick up the part the next morning. (Let's NOT forget that this service will cost you some money while the S&W people gave you a freebie.)

I see this happening with all the old, out of date guns we have where the manufacturer is no longer producing parts or may even be out of business. Someone will disassemble their gun, somehow 'scan' the parts and then the specs to make new parts will be on line for everyone...but then again in the 1970's I looked at bar codes on products and said 'hmmph...THAT's not going to work.'
 
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biohazard313

New member
needed new extractor, extractor spring, and pin to fix a FTE issue. they sent it, free of charge, took 2 weeks, popped in and have had no issues since.
 
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dayman

New member
I'd guess that the reason that it took so long is because they're such a large company - and it's a part for a gun they haven't made in a quarter of a century.
There was probably a certain amount of legwork involved with hunting it down. And as a freebie it probably wasn't high priority.
Sometimes it takes me a few weeks to find something in my garage.
 
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TomInLa

New member
I called them earlier this year for some buffer pads and recoil springs for a little 22A-1 I have. They were in stock at brownells, midway, and a few others, and I ordered 10 pads and 3 springs just so I wouldn't have to worry about it for a while. Just like the OP, they said no problem, your part numbers match, we'll put them in the mail to you, thanks for calling. I asked how much, don't you need my cc info, and the guy on the phone acted surprised in telling me it was no charge. Took a couple weeks, but it was free! I was prepared to pay, had paid for them before (at other places). I was quite surprised...these are maintenance parts, not for a repair or failure. Makes you wonder what there threshold is before you get charged anything???
 
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JimmyR

New member
I don't blame you for being frustrated, but having worked in a small church supply store warehouse, I know how easy it is to have those little, never used parts get put in the wrong place and lost.

"Oh, no one EVER asks for this, so we don't need it here, let's free up shelf space for part x that we use all the time."

Annoying, I bet. Worth the wait, well, getting a factory part from the manufacturer instead of trying to rig something yourself, I would hope so.
 
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rock185

New member
Glad you got your extractor pins. I have dealt with S&W CS a number of times since the mid '70s. "Almost" every time they went out of their way to take care of me. Strangely, IMHO, the two unpleasant experiences I had were when I called to inquire about obtaining Performance Center pistols. These two instances were separated by about 10 years, but both times I spoke with a very unpleasant woman who seemed very annoyed at me for asking. I was very polite, not just inquiring for fun, and did end up buying both of the not inexpensive PC pistols I'd inquired about. I don't know if it was the same woman or not...
 
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BuckRub

Moderator
Smith & Wesson is the greatest pleasure I ever had for warranty guns or items. You can't comain for getting your part and especially free. Try calling some other company's that I won't mention and see what you get. I've had one company tell me what date is on my receipt and ask for serial number. After I told them the date they said , it was one year and two weeks. We only warranty our guns for one year ! I told them I would never buy a gun from them again !!!! I've had great experience with s&W and glock.
 
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