Colt service.

[steves2]

Several months ago I bought a new Colt Competition Stainless in 9mm. I went to the range several times with it, and the empties, especially in rapid fire, were ejected into the middle of my forehead… not pleasant!

At the end of September I called customer service at Colt to see what to do about this. The guy sent me a “Return Material Authorization” notice and a FedEx mailing label to return the pistol. He said that the process would take a week to 10 days, and it would be returned after it had been repaired.

When I went to send the gun, I tried to get extra insurance as the instructions on the mailing label said that the package would be insured for $100. I tried to pay for more insurance as obviously I paid a lot more for that pistol. I couldn’t buy extra insurance without voiding the mailing label. The gun was picked up by FedEx on October 1 and signed for by Colt on October 4.

A couple of days ago I called Colt to see what was happening as it had been 12 days since they received it and I hadn’t heard anything. First problem… the guy I spoke to in their repair process said the gun wasn’t signed into their system until October 13! It had been loose and untraceable inside Colt for 9 days! This guy further told me that it wouldn’t be fixed for from 30 to 45 days. When I told him that the first guy had told me it would be from 7-10 days, and that I wasn’t happy that my gun had disappeared inside the Colt system for 9 days, the new guy offered to send it back, unrepaired.

I told the guy that I had read fairly often about Colt’s reputation for customer service, and that this experience seemed to reinforce what I’d read. I said that based on what I was going through I was going to be unlikely to buy from Colt again.

What are your experiences with Colt, and what suggestions other than patience would you advise?

 

[jrmiddleton425]

Called for a broken firing pin.

Guy on phone said "Box it up and ship it; if it says Colt on it, we'll fix it. Our turnaround time is right at four to six weeks." I enclosed copies of the bill of sale and purchase receipt as proof that I was the original owner, and a note stating what I needed done and the total live and dry fire count. Took it to the FedEx hub and they even measured and weighed it to sell me the correct box.

Colt had signed for it the next morning before I got out of bed...four weeks later almost to the day the pistol came back with a new firing pin. I was out of pocket about $46 to ship it to them and the cost of the FedEx box.

Colt will take care of you. You need to realize that they work on a FIFO system and there are work orders ahead of yours...and the guy who told you 7 to 10 days was full of beans.

 

[shafter]

I have no idea what Colt's process is once they sign for a gun, but I wouldn't be concerned unless they couldn't locate it when you called.

7 to 10 day turnaround from the factory isn't realistic.

 

[rskent]

what suggestions other than patience would you advise?

I guess you don’t want to hear it on this forum either. But be patient and let them do their thing. If they get it right, great. If not, then complain.

 

[sugerwater]

4 to 6 weeks is the same as saying we don't care for your business. Do they have that many returns to work on or no one working in that department.

 

[beag_nut]

Next time, buy a Ruger.

 

[Zaydok Allen]

4 to 6 weeks is the same as saying we don't care for your business. Do they have that many returns to work on or no one working in that department.

No it isn't. It's the same as saying we'll fix your gun as soon as we can.

Delays happen. It isn't fair to pass judgment without all of the facts. And in this case, regarding turn around time, we have NONE of the facts. It could be incompetence. It could be laziness. It could be an issue created in production and the repair folks are overwhelmed. It could be that someone quit or retired. It could be maternity leave, or some other lack of staffing. Maybe a piece of critical machinery broke down.

Sounds to me that the only thing that was screwed up by Colt besides building a gun that is clearly out of spec, is that the guy answering the phone gave out bad information regarding turn around time. A call to the company's head of customer relations would probably be appreciated, so they can make sure their employees are giving out good info. Chances are the person who answered the phone has no idea they screwed up. One area handles repairs. Another handles customer relations. Did the two departments talk that day? Obviously not. Whoops!

The great part about capitalism is that you have options.

 

[hdwhit]

It is unfortunate that the first person you talked to quoted you a time that was too short since it created an expectation they couldn't meet and now you feel lied to. If they had told you six weeks and returned it in five, you'd be happy instead.

Let Colt know about the problem, but then its just a question of waiting until you get your gun back.

 

[JONWILL]

4 to 6 weeks is the same as saying we don't care for your business. Do they have that many returns to work on or no one working in that department.

I think he either lied to you or didn’t know the real turn around time. I think the latter is correct
Most companies are 4 to 6 werks

 

[tipoc]

I replied to this a week or more ago on another forum in some detail. So this is another take on it.

A fella complained some time ago that at the range the empties were hitting him in the head. He was all irate about this. It was a horror he said. I asked if he was shooting at a range from a booth. He said yep! I encouraged him to let another fella shoot his gun and to watch what the cases did. As I have seen sometimes, the ejected cases were bouncing off the wall of the booth and hitting him in the head.

Anyway, that may not be the case here, but often small problems have small solutions.

 

[czhen]

Being there, sadly i ended up with a springfield stainless steel, better triger plus 4 mags instead of the black one. Oh, i forgot 200 idish bucks in my pockets.