Good Customer Experience With Springfield Armory
BY Herschel Smith
11 years, 5 months ago
During this day at the range in Pickens, S.C., the range officer that day, a gunsmith named Donnie Lostraglio, noticed that the discharged casings from my Springfield Armory .45 XDm were scorched on one side. He felt that the barrel was possibly out of round, and pointed this out to me and recommended that I take the gun by a gun shop where I live. I had put perhaps 2000 rounds through the weapon and either I hadn’t noticed this or the issue developed over time.
Several weeks later I took the weapon by Hyatt Gun Shop, where the gunsmiths are excellent. They measured the barrel to be 4 mils out of round, and recommended that I send it back to Springfield Armory to see if this might be an issue covered by warranty.
I began interacting with Mr. Robert Dominacki of Springfield Armory, and I noticed that it did take several e-mails to flush out exactly what I should do. Springfield wanted my entire weapon as opposed to just sending in the barrel in order to see if any other part of the gun was malfunctioning.
In order to make this happen, Robert issued a return merchandise authorization to have the Springfield technicians examine my gun. Springfield paid for the shipment through FedEx, both to the factory and back to me. While Robert told me that it could be up to six weeks, I received it back within a week of receipt by Springfield with a new barrel, tested by their technicians to function just fine with the replacement barrel, a match grade 4.5″ .45 ACP just like I sent to them.
My interaction with FedEx wasn’t so precise. The shipment back to me was made in such a manner that it could not be held at the FedEx hub because it is a firearm. Furthermore, when you call FedEx you cannot reach their hubs, you can only reach their national number. I started an account with FedEx in order to hold my shipment at the shipping hub but that option wasn’t allowed for this shipment.
FedEx attempted to deliver the package once and left a door tag because I wasn’t at home (I have a job). I just happened to be at home when FedEx made the second attempt so I got my package. Had this been attempted three times by FedEx I’m not sure what would have happened (would it have gone back to Illinois?).
I have complaints about FedEx being unreachable and unwilling to work with me on shipment of the firearm. I have absolutely no complaints about Springfield Armory. Some readers may complain that the barrel was out-of-round to begin with, but with that many firearms being made, some issues will be found. I don’t expect manufacturers to be perfect. I expect them to make good on their promises. Springfield Armory did exactly that, and I continue to enjoy my fine firearm from them. All around, this was a good customer experience.
|
|
On November 12, 2013 at 12:46 am, Mark said:
FedEx and UPS both will hold a package at their delivery hub after the third attempt. UPS is for 15 days, I don’t know how long FedEx is.
Both do not allow the recipient to hold a shipment at the hub without an account. You can re-direct one to an authorized shipper like Mailboxes Etc. I’ve had to do that when working away from home but still in the general area (i.e. longer commute puts me past 6 PM when the hub closes).
On November 12, 2013 at 1:21 pm, Dan in Texas said:
My experience with Springfield was just the opposite, although the same with FEDEX. I purchased a Springfield 1911 from the Military Exchange here on Fort Hood. I fired it sparodically, about 100 rounds on a private range, then took the firearm to a local IDCPA match. After firing about 100 rounds, I started having several stovepipes. I took the firearm apart and the extractor was cracked. I contacted Springfield via email and didn’t receive any reply for several months, although I continued to email them multiple times. Tried to call them, but never was able to get the person I needed concerning warranty work as they just passed me around. So I just sucked it up and ordered one through their website and wrote an email that bashed their service which finally got me a reply several weeks later. The only weird thing was, prior to getting their reply that castigated me for my bashing, I got a new extractor from them in the mail, this isn’t counting the one I purchased. No heads up that they were sending it or anything, just the extractor in a clear plastic bag. Aw well, all is well that ends well. With the service I got, I would be kind of fearful of sending my weapon to them though, if it was an issue that required them to hold it. I probably would just pay a gunsmith to fix it.
On November 12, 2013 at 5:24 pm, james Nelson said:
My experience with Springfield Armory found them going truly above and beyond. Several years ago I purchased a Tanfolio CZ75 clone that Springfield had imported in the 80’s. I believe it was called the Model M but I don’t have it right to hand.
Anyway I was having problems with light hammer strikes and called them looking for replacement springs. They sent a shipping label, fixed and sent it back all at no charge. This for a gun that was a couple of decades old and that I had bought used. I was impressed.
On November 19, 2013 at 1:13 pm, Federale said:
Funny, in that they did hold it between the first and second delivery. Do they hold it in the truck? Is the truck at the hub? Could you have gone down to the hub to pick it up after-hours like UPS allows?