Firearm Warranties And Customer Service

Recently a fellow instructor discouraged a student from investigating a Taurus firearm based on their own past experience with the company. Best I can recall from a foggy brain that happened over five years ago, but it is apparent the pain is still felt from poor customer service and slow warranty service. When that happens we often steer clear of a particular manufacturer as a result. I’m not exactly sure that is fair, especially if the sins are sins of the past. Let’s take a look at a recent incident with customer service which happened to a friend of mine and you decide if you would buy their firearms knowing what could happen should you need a warranty repair and have to deal with customer service.

I mentioned the incident back in September in the post Accidental Discharge?. My friend was at a sporting clay event and loaded the magazine and then used the cartridge drop feature to load the chamber. When he did the gun went off. Everyone thought he had his finger on the trigger, so he repeated the sequence of events and the gun went off. He called me to ask what to do and I told him to call the manufacturer. From here I am going to miss part of the story since it did not happen to me, but basically they asked him to ship the firearm to them so they could investigate. He took it down and at the shipping place they wrapped it in bubble wrap and then boxed the firearm for shipment. It was in perfect condition when he shipped it. I should point out I suggested he get a firearm with a plastic grip and stock for sporting clays, but he liked the wood furniture and spend over $1,000 on the shotgun. After he did not hear anything from the manufacturer for several weeks he called and was told they could not replicate the discharge. He explained how that happened and they told him they would try again. After a few more weeks passed by he called again and they could not locate his firearm. He called many, many more times and finally got a tech on the phone who said the firearm had numerous broken parts, scratches, and dings and was on the way back as damaged before they received it. He told them it was in perfect shape when he sent it and had some photos of it. He asked them to recall the package since he was not going to accept it from them. They did as he asked and when the firearm came back they called and indicated it was almost destroyed in the latest round of shipping. What is very odd about the entire incident is the person who could not replicate the discharge made no mention of damage and later another tech mentioned his gun was beaten nearly to death. In the end they agreed the damage was something he did not cause and sent him a new firearm. None of this gets to the root of the problem which is why did the gun discharge without having a finger on the trigger. The secondary problem is why would a manufacturer destroy someone’s firearm while it is in their possession and where is the customer service? The manufacturer of his shotgun is Benelli and I think most of us would agree their firearms are considered some of the best. OTOH based on this singular experience of a friend should we all stop considering purchasing their firearms? I say no. If you want to consider a Benelli then by all means do so, but be aware of what you may face if you need warranty service and document the packaging and condition of the firearm.

My experiences with firearm manufacturer customer service have all been positive. I can imagine with one bad personal experience and numerous complaints in the past they would not top your list, but don’t count out a company based on poor past performance. Think of Hyundai. Their first cars in the US were so awful when they fixed the issues no one would buy them so they offered a 10 year warranty. With the extended warranty people started to buy the cars and eventually they became known for their reliability.

Be Careful Instructors, Students Are Depending On You

I was disappointed recently by a fellow instructor who discouraged a former student of theirs from pursuing a firearm which has not yet been released. It was obvious the student was drawn to the firearm which IMO is one of the first steps in deciding if you want the firearm or not. Sure if you are going to conceal the firearm you need to think about many, many other topics, but to discourage someone from considering a firearm you have not held, touched, read range reports on, and fully investigated is the equivalent of poor parenting. As an instructor you should assist the student to the best possible firearm for their budget and needs. Had this particular firearm been out on the market with substandard reviews then my opinion of the situation would be much different, but because the only tangible reports were tactile from Shot Show 2017 and the gun is not on the market, to tell a student to overlook it is bad form. I’ve actually had my eye on this particular firearm and believe it may turn out to be a winner. I’ve been wrong many times in the past, but this one looks to me to be on the right track to be a great firearm for IWB carry. Anyway, if you are an instructor and have a favorite manufacturer do not allow that bias to carry over into the decision making process for a student. Just because I am a Ruger fanboy does not mean I would tell someone to avoid an S&W, Bersa, or Taurus, I would fully research the firearm they are considering and would probably head to a large firearm store to put my hands on it and decide for myself before offering an opinion. There is no way I would tell a student anything about a firearm which is not yet on the market other than to read the articles out now and I will be glad to assist them with an evaluation once the firearm has been released.

Taurus Spectrum

Shot Show 2017 introduced the Taurus Spectrum and I must admit I kinda dig the style of their new pocket pistol. Black doesn’t quite speak to me, but the colors do. I’ll keep my eye on this one!

Remember Pinky Swear?

Way back in August 2012 the CEO of Taurus promised to make better guns. Well I just saw an article he is now the president of an ammunition manufacturer. I wonder if his departure had anything to do with the class action lawsuit. He left before the Curve Recall so he certainly cannot take any of the blame for that cluster. I’m sure in the three years he was a Taurus he tried to fix what was broken before he was forced out, but I’ll bet he is glad he didn’t pinky swear. 😉

Taurus Class Action Lawsuit Settlement

Taurus has long been known to have QA/QC issues with certain firearms and I must admit I don’t actually own one of their firearms. A settlement has been granted preliminary approval in a class action lawsuit over one million defective pistols. If you have any of these models you should definitely check out the settlement options.

Taurus pistols subject to these defects include the PT-111 Millennium; PT-132 Millennium; PT-138 Millennium; PT-140 Millennium; PT-145 Millennium; PT-745 Millennium; PT-609; PT-640; and PT-24/7.

Oh Taurus Will You Ever Learn – Curve Recall

Recently Taurus launched their Curve pistol which I wrote about in December and in January. Unfortunately a batch got out without caliber markings on the chamber. Taurus has been plagued by issues over the years and this seems to be yet another example of less than stellar QA/QC. Below is a photo of the correct marking on the chamber.

I noticed a Guns.com video review and sure enough, the pistol in the review does not have the marking and is part of the recall. Nice review Jacki, but you might want to touch up that nail polish before the next video. 😉

Photo Updates – (Like Us On Facebook)

Recently it became clear the links to many of our photos are broken. It is a cumbersome process to go back through all the posts over the past three years to fix the issues. In some cases it may not be possible, but many of the photos are mine and I just need to revise each post. If you find a broken photo link, feel free to post a comment and I will get to it. I’ve gotten about half way through both 2014 and 2012 and will continue to work on it with the goal to have the photo links restored where possible in the next two months.

If you feel so inclined, please like our Facebook page. The button is at the bottom right of the cover photo which is the same photo as on the blog.

More Curvature

I mentioned the Taurus Curve in December and it appears it will soon be on the market. I did receive a voice mail from Taurus which indicated the release date was slated for the first quarter of 2015. I still think it looks ugly, but in a cool kinda way. 😉

The video below goes over some of the features and the more I see, the more I like it.

Taurus Curve .380

My first reaction to the latest from Taurus was, wow, that’s ugly. Then I started to peel the onion and the firearm started to look more attractive. To start with it has an integral flashlight and laser and all the surfaces are curved to stop the pistol from snagging clothing. It also is, well, curved. The firearm twists convex, but IMO that is a slight bit of a flaw only favoring right-handed people. The idea is the firearm has an integral clip so it can be fastened inside the waistband, but for a left-handed person it would need to be concave or essentially a mirror image of the current offering. The magazine is not curved and holds six cartridges so with one in the chamber you have seven ready to go. Another oddity is the firearm has no sights, only a cross at the back. I see this very similar to a Ruger LCP, it is a get off of me pistol you use in close quarters to get someone to leave you alone and stop the threat.

With an MSRP of $392.42 I’d expect this puppy to hit the streets in the $350 or less range. I’m sure many will poo poo the firearm because it is Taurus, but let’s shoot straight for a minute. Taurus has had some quality issues over time, but they have always ironed them out in the end and stood by their warranty. Now I am hopeful this one is good out of the box unlike what Remington did with their R51, and I do believe most of the industry learned from Remington’s mistake in releasing a firearm before it was ready to be introduced.

FWIW, I still think this thing is kinda ugly, but it looks like it has a great personality and beauty is only skin deep so count me in the group who is keeping an eye on the Taurus Curve.

Customize at your own risk!

Recently I have seen two firearms up for sale where the owner customized the firearm and turned it into something only a mother could love. One was a Taurus 1911 with a retail price of about $600 and after all the customization they wanted $850 and the gun was orange and black. I would never pay 30% more than a gun was worth new unless there was something super special about the custom work which was done, but making it orange lowered the value IMO as opposed to raising the value. Another was a Glock with a cerakoted frame which was OD Green. It wasn’t bad, but why would I want that? Another one was a Glock with $175 worth of custom grip modifications which to me look like someone took a hot paperclip and stippled the grip. There were other modifications, but why would I want a $550 used Glock when I can get a used Gen 3 for $400-450 all day long.

If you are going to modify the firearm there are a couple of considerations. First and foremost is the modification just for you. If so they gopher it. If you are doing the modification with aspirations to eventually sell the firearm and recoup the cost of the modification be aware the chances of this happening are slim to none. So if you stipple the grip on a Glock, know it is lowering the value to many. If however you were adding night sights to the Glock you would potentially increase the value. You can change grips on some guns and other things, but save the original for when someone like me walks up and says that’s good, but I’d prefer original.