Mistakes do Happen. But come on?

[Excaliber]

I'd tell them I want one of their unfluted cylinders. You don't see them very often but I think they look real slick.

Read the entire thread...

To the OP, what does make it right and then some mean exactly. This thread has been on fire here the last few weeks and I and I'm sure others would like to know what over and above what you have stated are they going to do for you? And then some implies they are going to hook you up, not just give you a hat or a range bag with their logo on it.

If I wanted to keep the cylinder I would. (I wouldn't expect them to service it if I did though.) Heck you payed for it keep it if you want.

On the other hand if I was S&W I'd probably have personally delivered a gold plated gun of your choosing and taken the old one back.

Somebody over at S&W seriously doesn't know how to play damage control. I'm interested to see what happens here.

Discovering that one has bought a defective product, even if it's a gun, doesn't entitle someone to a new Lamborghini to help him recover from the emotional trauma of finding a manufacturing error.

The company could have handled communication about the issue better, but getting less than perfect information from first line customer service personnel isn't unheard of and isn't limited to the firearms industry. The final resolution sounds pretty reasonable to me.

S&W is providing a new and more valuable (unfluted) cylinder in place of the defective one, and the OP will end up with a more valuable gun than the one he paid for to compensate him for the aggravation of the return process and time without the gun.

I'd suggest that this would be a good time to call it good and move on.

[Liberty]

Just curious, why is unfluted better? I would have thought the flutes had a purpose.

[RECIT]

The unfluted cylinders are from their custom shop and are more rare than a normal fluted cylinder. The flutes are to save weight I would assume-possibly aid in cooling???

[XinTX]

While reading through this I was amazed that anyone from S&W said you could keep the cylinder. That's a liability time bomb out there with "Please sue S&W" written all over it. So I think the CS statement that you could keep it is entirely indicative of a lack of CS training (which is common in just about every business) rather than being lied to.

[MasterOfNone]

To the OP, what does make it right and then some mean exactly. This thread has been on fire here the last few weeks and I and I'm sure others would like to know what over and above what you have stated are they going to do for you? And then some implies they are going to hook you up, not just give you a hat or a range bag with their logo on it.

Maybe it means their QA will be doing a Holmes Inspection on it:

[PUCKER]

At the very least, not even looking at the huge liability of it, S&W has a very sobering "pass the boogered cylinder around the shop and make a mental note to *not* do this again" item back in their hands. Nothing like an object lesson to help a very serious problem.

[Japle]

Well, I hated to do it, but I dropped the cylinder in the FedEx box.



I do have a whole lot of photos and even some video.

[texasmusic]

I'd tell them I want one of their unfluted cylinders. You don't see them very often but I think they look real slick.

Read the entire thread...

To the OP, what does make it right and then some mean exactly. This thread has been on fire here the last few weeks and I and I'm sure others would like to know what over and above what you have stated are they going to do for you? And then some implies they are going to hook you up, not just give you a hat or a range bag with their logo on it.

If I wanted to keep the cylinder I would. (I wouldn't expect them to service it if I did though.) Heck you payed for it keep it if you want.

On the other hand if I was S&W I'd probably have personally delivered a gold plated gun of your choosing and taken the old one back.

Somebody over at S&W seriously doesn't know how to play damage control. I'm interested to see what happens here.

Discovering that one has bought a defective product, even if it's a gun, doesn't entitle someone to a new Lamborghini to help him recover from the emotional trauma of finding a manufacturing error.

The company could have handled communication about the issue better, but getting less than perfect information from first line customer service personnel isn't unheard of and isn't limited to the firearms industry. The final resolution sounds pretty reasonable to me.

S&W is providing a new and more valuable (unfluted) cylinder in place of the defective one, and the OP will end up with a more valuable gun than the one he paid for to compensate him for the aggravation of the return process and time without the gun.

I'd suggest that this would be a good time to call it good and move on.

I wouldn't feel entitled to it either. I was talking from SW's perspective and what I would have done. This isn't a crooked front sight, this is something which anybody can tell just by looking at it is unsafe. If Japle wanted something I'd have given him it. Threads on the topic would have been over before they even got started.

[smoothoperator]

Personally, keeping the original goofed-up cylinder would be nonnegotiable.

[Excaliber]

While reading through this I was amazed that anyone from S&W said you could keep the cylinder. That's a liability time bomb out there with "Please sue S&W" written all over it. So I think the CS statement that you could keep it is entirely indicative of a lack of CS training (which is common in just about every business) rather than being lied to.

The training issue is a big one for most companies. If I get strange answers or any answer I don't want from first line customer service folks, I save time and aggravation by just asking to talk to a supervisor. Those folks usually either have the right info or know enough to ask you to hold on while they get it.

[Excaliber]

I'd tell them I want one of their unfluted cylinders. You don't see them very often but I think they look real slick.

Read the entire thread...

To the OP, what does make it right and then some mean exactly. This thread has been on fire here the last few weeks and I and I'm sure others would like to know what over and above what you have stated are they going to do for you? And then some implies they are going to hook you up, not just give you a hat or a range bag with their logo on it.

If I wanted to keep the cylinder I would. (I wouldn't expect them to service it if I did though.) Heck you payed for it keep it if you want.

On the other hand if I was S&W I'd probably have personally delivered a gold plated gun of your choosing and taken the old one back.

Somebody over at S&W seriously doesn't know how to play damage control. I'm interested to see what happens here.

Discovering that one has bought a defective product, even if it's a gun, doesn't entitle someone to a new Lamborghini to help him recover from the emotional trauma of finding a manufacturing error.

The company could have handled communication about the issue better, but getting less than perfect information from first line customer service personnel isn't unheard of and isn't limited to the firearms industry. The final resolution sounds pretty reasonable to me.

S&W is providing a new and more valuable (unfluted) cylinder in place of the defective one, and the OP will end up with a more valuable gun than the one he paid for to compensate him for the aggravation of the return process and time without the gun.

I'd suggest that this would be a good time to call it good and move on.

I wouldn't feel entitled to it either. I was talking from SW's perspective and what I would have done. This isn't a crooked front sight, this is something which anybody can tell just by looking at it is unsafe. If Japle wanted something I'd have given him it. Threads on the topic would have been over before they even got started.

With something this unusual, it's not as easy to notice without having your attention directed to it than you might think. Even the OP didn't notice it when he first handled the gun.

Most of the time people see what they expect to see unless their attention is focused directly on a detail in the environment, and the cylinder defect was unusual but normal enough looking that it would take either a close look or a lucky double take to recognize it at first glance.

[Japle]

UPDATE 2/3/2012:

The FedEx guy showed up today with my 686. As they promised they would, S&W installed an unfluted cylinder and didn’t mess with my action work.

It looks pretty good, don’t you think?

[RECIT]

That is beautiful and unique. I hope it shoots as good as it looks.

[texasmusic]

Glad you got it back and it looks great!

[C-dub]

I've never seen one without flutes. It looks odd to me.

I'm glad they, eventually, made it right.