Horror Story: M&P 10 and S&W Customer Service

[JFtheGR8]

Well your post has helped me immensely. It was almost fate that got me to read this. Grabagun has the M&P 10 on special for $999. I was considering buying one until I read this post. I was coming here to find out what I could get for a couple of my guns in order to finance the purchase. I'll just wait until I can buy a DPMS.

 

[moxie]

Very odd. S&W is usually known for excellent customer service.

 

[JFtheGR8]

I would add that while I believe you about the barrel defect and feel your pain I think you should have gotten it checked out. In S&W's eyes the barrel passed all of the necessary quality control stops along the way so they believe that it was defect free once it left the factory. I won't be buying an M&P 10 due to your experience.

 

[carbine85]

they don't actually have any kind of contractual duty to supply spare parts for a gun. If they decide they want to be the kind of company who makes a line of firearms

So a manufacturer isn't required to make parts available for a reasonable amount of time? What if the auto industry did that?
Obsolete is one thing but aren't we talking about a current production model?

 

[Zerodefect]

Can the whole upper be tossed and a DPMS, KAC, LMT, or Larue upper be used?

 

[earlthegoat2]

So a manufacturer isn't required to make parts available for a reasonable amount of time? What if the auto industry did that?
Obsolete is one thing but aren't we talking about a current production model?

You would be buying cars for a heck of a lot more money that is what and the manufacturers would have to put every last living cent into making sure their cars are DEAD reliable for a "reasonable" amount of mile. Reasonable is, as many miles as it takes to justify getting rid of a car that has never broken down and may or may not be able to be sold as there will be none too many buyers who want a used car that they do not know the history on that has no parts support. That is, unless they wanted it for parts because of the aforementioned.

Car companies make most of their money off service parts. Cars have been around awhile and they have a long history of needing parts here and there and still being perfectly acceptable vehicles.

Guns have a long history of being very reliable and needing few if any replacement parts EVER for the average owner. There are exceptions though as the OP makes very clear.

 

[Warp]

You would be buying cars for a heck of a lot more money that is what and the manufacturers would have to put every last living cent into making sure their cars are DEAD reliable for a "reasonable" amount of mile. Reasonable is, as many miles as it takes to justify getting rid of a car that has never broken down and may or may not be able to be sold as there will be none too many buyers who want a used car that they do not know the history on that has no parts support. That is, unless they wanted it for parts because of the aforementioned.

Car companies make most of their money off service parts. Cars have been around awhile and they have a long history of needing parts here and there and still being perfectly acceptable vehicles.

Guns have a long history of being very reliable and needing few if any replacement parts EVER for the average owner. There are exceptions though as the OP makes very clear.

Cars do have FAR more moving parts than guns, and I suspect that if the average gun was fired...a significant number of rounds...5-7 days per week for 5-10 years...replacement parts would be a fact of life much the way they are with cars.

 

[B!ngoFuelUSN]

I would definitely not stop trying on this one, nor would I spend money to replace the barrel at significant expense. Not for a while at least.
I know it seems that you have expended all avenues but S&W is a big company. There are a lot of people to contact any of whom might reach a different conclusion. Try the S&W forum and see if anyone has a contact list. Re-start the process as well with CS and see if you reach anyone different. Send a letter to a senior exec. Go to their FB and twitter site(s) (I assume they have them but have not checked) and bring up the issue. Assuming those sites exist, Smith will not want everyone seeing these issues. Again, social media can be your friend here as no one wants to look bad in front of thousands.
Also, make your story known in numerous popular web forums. Someone may have a suggestion and Smith may just want to quiet someone who is hurting their business. And honestly, if you make enough web noise, you will hurt their business.
I'm suggesting all of this with the assumption that you are not at fault here. Though many on this site seem to always side with the company rather than the buyer (I will never understand that) only you know what happened out there and you owe it to yourself to continue to push on this issue until the right thing happens.
B

 

[chaddy]

I was going to get a m&p 10 but not now guess windham weaponry 308 will get some of my tax money this year.

 

[joem1945]

Perhaps S&W feels the lower had some pressure issues along with the split barrel. I'm afraid I'd be leery of the rifle even after repair.

 

[FrankCastleThePunisher]

I too was considering an S&W MP 10, but will now consider the DMPS gen II or Windham, or maybe a Colt 901. Having no extra parts makes no business sense.

 

[Elkins45]

As others have suggested, have you inquired about fitting a different brand upper to your lower?

 

[Highland Ranger]

I have many s&w firearms. Few times I needed help they bent over backwards. Hope this is something weird and not a trend.

 

[tomrkba]

I was going to buy an S&W M&P 10. Not any more.

HOWEVER, this may work (worked for me in the past with a high end 1911): call support. Ask to talk to a manager. Ask to talk to his or her manager. Keep asking until you get to at least a VP.

Explain the situation and what occurred at the match. I suspect a good plea will get you a new rifle.

 

[Ks5shooter]

Out of M&P 308 market as well. Thanks for the heads up. Goin DPMS now.

 

[Rule3]

I find this very very strange or odd indeed. SW has one of the best if not the best Customer service regardless of the situation. I have dealt with them many many times as has my friend who runs the LGS.

There has to be more to this story. I had a SW AR15 that was terrible accuracy. I sent it back (they paid the shipping as always) No they did not replace the barrel they just replaced the whole upper. Had it back in 2 weeks. I have sent more handguns back then I will mention. Never a question asked.

I know of a case first hand were a guy blew his AR up using reloads. He admitted it. SW replaced the gun just out of good will.

What exactly did they say the reason was for NOT fixing or replacing it??

 

[henschman]

To quote from their letter, the reason for not fixing or replacing it was "we do not believe the damage to the handgun was due to a defect in workmanship or materials." Yes, they repeatedly referred to it as a handgun. When I talked to their engineer, he simply said that management told him it is their policy not to replace barrel assemblies, and not to sell barrels.

If you don't believe me, call S&W and ask how much an M&P 10 barrel would cost. Here is their number: 1-800-331-0852

 

[Ks5shooter]

Sounds like a form letter^^^^:banghead:

 

[sappyg]

Something is not adding up for me here. I don't doubt the OP has an issue but I'm just not sure we have all of the details. The gun may well be beyond safe repair but if it is why would S&W send it back to the OP. I am assuming that they will but they are under no obligation to do so. Knowingly returning an unsafe firearm would be liable.

Pictures would be nice. I've returned guns (and taken pictures) to illustrate here why the gun was returned. An event such as described would certainly have pictures to document the issue. Yet there are no pictures here.

I am... Skeptical.

 

[H&Hhunter]

henschman,

The barrel almost certainly split due to an obstruction. S&W not selling parts is another matter entirely. But your rifle barrel did not fail due to a manufacturing flaw.

 

[Badlander]

May sound silly but take it to face Book. I Had A problem with A Rossi 1892 rifle. I tried to get Rossi to help me with it but I could not get past the Phone people at Rossi. I complained on their FB page. It got the attention of their Social media person and she kicked it upstairs. They finally fixed the rifle for me. May work with S&W.

 

[henschman]

I am... Skeptical.

Like I said, if you don't believe me, call S&W, tell them you would like to buy an M&P 10 barrel, and see what they say. 1-800-331-0852.

I can't take pics because S&W still has my rifle. I will take some when I get it back. However, I do not doubt that the barrel split because of some kind of obstruction. I realize that it is possible I did something to cause it, and I don't care whether S&W fixes it for free... all I want to do is buy a barrel. But apparently they would rather allocate them all to production than sell one to an existing customer who has no other way to fix his rifle.

 

[Warp]

I can't hardly believe you had this happen and went all the way to the point of shipping the gun to S&W without taking any pictures. Just sayin'

 

[H&Hhunter]

henschman,

The barrel almost certainly split due to an obstruction. S&W not selling parts is another matter entirely. But your rifle barrel did not fail due to a manufacturing flaw.

This ^^^ is what I wrote.

Originally Posted by H&Hhunter
I am... Skeptical.

This ^^^ is what you made it look like I wrote...

If you are going to quote me please quote what I wrote not what you want it to look like I wrote.

I am not in the least skeptical that S&W won't sell you a barrel. What I said is that S&W is not liable for your operator error. The error of firing your rifle with an obstruction in your barrel.

 

[henschman]

Sorry... I looked at the wrong post when I made the quote.