Really upset with S&W Quality Control and Customer service!

Rivers2k

Inactive
*** Happy to report this issues has been resolved by another S&W rep. Joe from S&W reached out to me and was pleasant and professional. They are shipping me out new grips at no charge***

I was hoping to post a happy post this morning because I just got my first 686. Literally spent years of dreaming and saving and I finally got my 686 yesterday. I was so excited and then I noticed it.

My grips have a 1/16" gap in them, then I notice the screw is sticking out to far on the other side so I can't tighten it down. I foolishly purchased this gun online to save a few bucks. If I had seen this gun in the store I would not have bought it.

So I called smith this morning get customer service and I get a "hello" no name, no smith and wesson customer service, not even how can I help you. So I give the guy my name and ask his name he responds with Mel nothing else. So I tell the guy my problem he just gives me a curt "send me the grips and I will replace them". Iask for a shipping return label he tells me it takes 48 hours to e-mail me a shipping label! 48 hours to send an e-mail! I told Mell I spent $800 for this gun you cant just send me new grips he said he could but he would have to charge me for them anyways I am really ****** right now and will most likely go to another manufacturer for my next gun if this is they Smith takes care of their customers. I asked is there any way he can rush the e-mail it takes 5 minutes to send and e-mail and he laughed at me! he literally laughed at me!

Here are the pics!
Please excuse the kids toys in the background, that's why it has taken me so long to get my revolver :).

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Ouch!

Any chance the grips are hanging on the alignment pin at the bottom of the frame? Might be a quick fix with a drill bit (by hand, so you don't go too far).
 
Don't take Mel's word for it. Call again and ask for someone else (a manager, maybe?) or send an email to CS, explaining the problem, both with the grips and Mel. Don't let the tone be hostile, but merely indicate you'd like a shipping label sent ASAP so you can exchange the grips.

Sorry to hear of your troubles. We're looking forward to your range report once you get it sorted out. ;)
 
9x19 they aren't really hanging I can slide them together and apart. When they are together the screw sticks into my hand. Thanks for the suggestion though.

Ps before anyone asks I bought this gun online. If I had seen in a store I would have walked away. I guess I learned a valuable lesson.
 
Ahoy Rivers, Welcome aboard...

...every once in a while you get a problem, yours does not appear to be bad one and it is easily fixed...tho I undesrstand your frustration.

More important is handgun integrity, ie forcing cone to cylinder gap OK? Tight lock-up ? Etc, etc.

The S&W 686 is a superb handgun, I have never met an S&W revolver that is not a tack-driver.

Do not allow some Mel (who does not represent the well earned high S&W Customer Service standard) to ruin your handgun experience.

Congratulations on a superb acquisition, it will bring you a lifetime of enjoyable performance.
 
Obviously that is something that you should not receive from a new gun. I am also a bit surprised that you got that response, if it happened the way you said. At least its just the grips though, and you can get all kinds of new ones cheap and easy. I have 4 sets of different grips for my 686. It is at least an incredible gun, don't let it get you down too much. Smith is known for having excellent customer service, I haven't heard of anyone getting that kind of treatment from them. Good luck and try to enjoy the gun anyway.
 
Sorry you had a bad experience. It will get sorted out. He probably isn't the person who sends out the e-mails with the return info. There are procedures to follow like most places.

"So I give the guy my name and ask his name he responds with Mel nothing else."

He answered your question. Were you expecting last name first, first name last, middle initial?
 
johnbt "He answered your question. Were you expecting last name first, first name last, middle initial?"

I don't know maybe a how can I help you or something to the fact that I was dealing with a professional.

I don't know of anyone that works in customer service that answers with Hello. I always answer my phone with Company name, my name and how can I help you and I don't deal with the outside public only people in my company but you never know who is going to call. Its just plain polite, and professional. But I guess all that is going out the window these days.
 
The rubber grips on my new model 60 2''snubbie had a gap also at the bottom of the grip, although not as bad as yours, I put Badger wooden grips on it and put the factory ones in the drawer with all the other factory grips I have aquired over the years. And yes, he could have been more courteous.
 
So ummm if the screw is stripped what happens if you drill it out and back it out with a power screw driver? I did this on one of my guns when I found one of the grip screws stripped from the factory. Secondly, you working in a company you should understand companies have policies. Many many many companies will not let their employees send email outside the company due to virus concerns. Most of the time front line agents have no email access outside the company. Therefore it may take up to 48 hours because they have to hand it off to a supervisor or another department to send it out. Thus it goes into a queue and whatever position it is in the queue depends on how long it takes. They cant very well move you up in the queue just because you feel your issue is more important than someone elses. That is the problem with America today to many people with a chip on their shoulder thinking America owes them something. If we dont get instant gratification we cry and moan and scream like children to get our way. Alot of people do it myself included sometimes. Let's all get over the self entitlement people.
 
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Some thoughts ...

By the time you get through the menu tree to reach a customer service rep, you ought to know which company you've called. First names are fine.

When customer service enters a request to process a return label, whether email or hard copy, the request is processed through their system. They're a large company. The customer service bank gets the calls for ALL of the company's CS inquiries, not just the firearms products. I've been told that on any given day, there may be only 15-18 people on the phones, or up to 35, depending. Big outfit. They get a lot of calls (and not just for firearms related stuff).

Revolver stocks (grips) made by their vendor can certainly come with occasional issues.

Being an owner as well as a LE armorer, I've dealt with a number of the different firearm companies, and seldom does anything happen fast in the way of getting replacement/repair parts.

I spoke with the senior tech at the US headquarters for another major (and well respected) firearms company a while back. I was trying to resolve a problem for the owner of a fairly new pistol (belonging to another cop). The tech said I needed a couple of parts/assemblies and that he'd process the request for them to be shipped (priority LE service). After a couple of weeks I called back to check on the parts status, and was told the 'order' had apparently not gone out, for an unknown reason, and so it was reprocessed. Several days later I received a shipping envelope ... with the wrong parts (totally unrelated to my problem, and not even for the model on which I was sitting). I called back, they apologized (but didn't sound terribly surprised) and said they'd reprocess the order ... and a couple of weeks later I got the right parts. It happens. :cool:

If it were me, I'd be happy they're sending a label for just a set of grips (I'd have mailed the grips back, myself), and await replacement.
 
Sounds to me like they made you a very reasonable offer, to which you seem to have gotten very hostile. You bought the gun online. The seller should've provided better pics. You should've gotten an inspection period. If the grips were that upsetting, you should've sent the gun back without doing a transfer. Don't be PO'd at S&W because they won't send a courier straight to your house with new grips. Send them back, it costs a few bucks. Big deal.
 
That's too bad, and it's not like there regular old uncle mike grips it looks like you got one of the TALO 686's. I would in the mean time pick up a cheap pair of grips untill you get the correct ones sent back to you.
 
Wow ok I guess I am in the wrong here everyone seems to agree. I should just suck it up and take it. I cant believe I have to defend myself after getting screwed over!

For those of you that understand what I am going through thanks.

For those of you that want to defend S&W that your decision. I just think it is wrong and I would never treat anyone the way they treated me.

@Tnxdshooter say what you want about me but you have no clue what you are talking about.
 
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You bought on-line. How do you know the grips are original, that they were last put on by the factory, or that the gun is new? Sounds like taking it out on S&W to avoid blaming oneself for buying that porcine in the paper container.

Jim
 
I think the appropriateness of your reaction depends on whether you're upset over the news you got, or simply with how it was delivered.
 
@ScottRique very good point! I was upset at the delivery that lack of empathy, lack of professionalism and I was really upset about getting laughed at by there service rep. waiting the 48 hours isn't the point.

@James K, I know the guns is new because when registering the gun I registered it as new. If it had been registered before it would have comeback invalid.

This post has gotten out of hand with the defense of the almighty smith and wesson company. Some what sorry I ever started it.

I am not asking to be right or validated. My original intent was to put my experience out there so people have more information to make there decisions. Hopefully saving someone the heart ache that I felt last night.

If I had known this issue with the grips was out there. I may have asked the seller specifically if there were issues with the grips. I may have been heated when I posted this but my intent was purely to put information out there.
 
"If it had been registered before it would have comeback invalid."

Only if it had been registered in your state.

I am not defending anyone, but I think you went off the rails over a fairly minor problem. If that is the worst thing that ever happens to you, be grateful.

Jim
 
I am pretty sure its a federal system that checks the background of the buyer and the firearm. At least that is how it was explained to me. I may be wrong though. In that case maybe I do have a used gun oh well nothing I can do now.
 
You are wrong. There is no federal registration system that will check to see if a gun has been sold before, or even if it has been stolen. In fact, the NICS check that a dealer runs doesn't even require the make or model of the gun or the serial number, only the type; the check is on the buyer, not the gun.

Some state registration systems do have a crosscheck and also a stolen gun check but there are no such federal checks.

Of course, neither of us can know if that gun is really new, or if someone played with the grips. I have seen dealers sell items like grips and magazines from new guns, figuring to keep a customer happy and replace the stuff later. Or a customer might have bought the gun, put on a different set of grips, then returned the gun for some reason. Or S&W may have messed up. In any case, the dealer should have caught it, and evidently he did not.

I hope things work out OK for you.

Jim
 
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