[moose]

I am afraid I must concur with other postings that Taurus customer service leaves a lot to be desired. I own 2 taurus automatics and a taurus 357 revolver. No problems. when I purchased the judge two of the cylinders would not seat shells. I had to make several phone calls to get taurus to pay for shipping (Finally spoke To Richard). Still haven't received the check yet. Taurus still has the gun been six weeks. I just dont feel that paying for shipping and expedited service is too much to ask on a firearm that was defective out of the factory without a single shot fired.

 

[Pierce]

I don't know of many companies that pay for shipping into their company. I think they are being pretty good about paying your shipping.

 

[mrglock]

I honestly have never had to ship any of my guns to their prospective service department (knock on wood); I would think that if the gun has never been fired and was defective out of the box that I would like for them to pick up s&h as well. The good news is that they did pick up your shipping costs so all is good; hope you get your toy back soon. I am really really really thinking about getting one of the Judges.

 

[Pierce]

I would think that if the gun has never been fired and was defective out of the box that I would like for them to pick up s&h as well.

I don't know Moose's situation, but generally if the gun is NIB and found to be defective you would take it back to the dealer for a replacement or refund. So S&H wouldn't be a issue.

 

[mrglock]

Good point Pierce, except for those times when we buy it online; I have bought 3/4 of my collection that way. In that case, hopefully the dealer would still pick up the tab, but again, I haven't had the issue arise yet.

 

[Pierce]

Yep, on-line is a bit more dicey. I give you that.

 

[moose]

Pierce is correct years ago I had a problem with a winchester model 94 and the retailer handled it. Finding the Judge was like finding a needle in the haystack. My dad found it purchased it and offered it to me. I took him up on it and did not notice the problem until we were at the range and the gun had been transfered. This took the original retailer Gander Mountain out of the picture. My advice is to make sure you get names as Richard assured me if I had the names of the employees who argued over shipping they would have been addressed. The problems with customer service seems to lie with the initial level of individuals you speak with. They are argumentative and non yielding. (at least the woman I intially had) When you get to a manager (Richard) the damage has already been done by the initial contact. The other thing is Taurus could be more honest with their repair estimate. They report 4-6 weeks. What they do not tell is this time starts when the firearm enters the system. When your firearm reaches Taurus it goes into holding to be inspected for safety (loaded) It can spend up to a week or more here. Mine was there for a week. I am anxious to get it back and shoot and I will certainly follow this up with positive comments on how it shoots as I am sure it will be impressive. I do feel this firearm is the ultimate idea in home protection as it easily fits in my bedside safe and offers a variety ammo options.

 

[Pierce]

Thanks for the details, Moose. In hinds sight you probably good have taken your dad with you to Gander Mountain and since you two are family they would likely have replaced the gun for you.

I am sorry to read that Taurus CS reps have given you a bad time. I have written a number of posts up here on how to best deal with customer service for any organization including Taurus. You did the right thing in escalating your issue to a manager. The front line people just want to transfer your call or get you off the line asap. Occasionally you will find that exceptional rep who will go the extra mile. Always get their names, too, and then ask for them.

The shipping and handling procedure Taurus is using is actually an industry standard. The clock always starts when the package is received into their system because they can not be held accountable for the length of time it takes the shipping company to process the package to the gun company (e.g. Taurus). The samething applies for return shipping.

Receiving cues are also standard and the length of time a received package remains in the cue depends on the amount of packages being received and the number of employees processing packages out of the cue. Ditto for the inspection cue packages are processed into. Keep in mind that Taurus does something very few gun manufactuers do... they warranty a life time repair of the gun to the gun itself and not the owner. So any old "Joe and Jane" out there can find themselves a used Taurus that has gone through dozens of owners and ship it out for warranty repair. That certainly has an impact on Taurus' ability to process repairs and orders in a fast manner.

Of course, I wouldn't be surprised to find that there are internal organizational problems with the process at Taurus. These sort of problems plague many large corporations. Try sending a computer off to Dell or Compaq for repair and getting it back within 30 days! The cost to produce a computer is so cheap for these companies that they will ship out a replacement to you and supply a return shipping carton for the defective unit. However, with a firearm that is a bit more difficult to do; especially if dealing with restricted parts. But I wish they could do something like that, it would make things so much smoother!

I hope things move along fast for you.