I tried calling Colt's Customer Service this morning but get a recording stating that "due to high call volume...please try again in 30 minutes". Colt's site has no Chat and no email address. They have a US mailing address, a telephone number that is worthless and a FAX number and that's it.
I bought a horribly expensive Colt' King Cobra 3" spanking brand new three months ago and it needs work already. I won't get into those specifics as that is beyond the point of this thread. I tried sending Colt a letter one month ago and still no response.
Do Smith & Wesson customers get treated in this fashion? Do I have to send these Colt clowns a certified letter to get something out of them?
Please share with us your bad Colt Customer Service experiences. I don't think the Rampant Pony is going to last much longer.
I probably will for awhile, I have both versions of the 2020 Python, a 2019 4.75 inch SAA and a 2020 7.5 inch SAA. The coming change in the cost of living will likely curtail my new Colt purchases.
They make money selling product, not servicing problems. Companies like Colt live off of reputations established long before any of the executives were born. Many times the confuse the term "customer service" with servicing the customer. With big companies the bottom line is the bottom line.
Have you tried to get the people you bought it from to help with the problem? They are a small step closer to the company than you are.
In my experience Ruger is totally different than Colt. I have a warranty repair going on on an American rifle right now and Ruger was prompt in getting them on the phone and courteous. The problem with my Colt gun is it needs work not warranty-covered. It is for damage that is all my fault. I know I will have to pay Colt or find an independent gunsmith to do the work. I basically damaged the stainless finish on the barrel and the crane by doing something stupid. The people I bought the gun from was an online store, gunprime.com. I doubt if the seller can help me with a non-warranty repair.
I am a retired gunsmith and gun seller. Remington and Mossberg had the best customer service, period. Colt was very good to deal with from a dealer/gunsmith perspective. A couple of times they even had a factory gunsmith talk me thru a procedure on an older gun. On new stuff they would often ask if I preferred them to send me a part or return the gun. Beretta acted insulted one would even suggest someone had a problem with their product. Browning would act like you were a known idiot until you waded through three layers and then they weren't bad, but S..L..O..W. Smith & Wesson was usually okay as long as you liked to ship guns to them. Ruger was good but a couple of times I had to return a gun twice.
But as a public service I have established a service for feel bad over buying x brand handguns.
Simply mail the offending firearm to me and I guarantee you will be bothered by the sight of it no more
Colt has lived on a false reputation for 75 years or more. I've owned Colt 1911's, Python's, Anaconda's, and AR15's in the past. All of the handgun's had issues at times, and the AR wasn't any better than other brands that cost several $$$ less.
I haven't owned a Colt firearm in over 20 years, and will never buy another.
You say you damaged the finish. Does that mean it still fires but has a cosmetic flaw. I got a lot of guns with cosmetic conditions in fact you would swear I dinged every new gun I ever bought.
I used to worry about cosmetics on my guns when I first became a gun owner. But when you carry and/or are outside a lot, cosmetic things like dings and scratches are gonna be almost impossible to avoid.
You get used to it after a while.
My .22 and 12G have a ton of scratches but they also have been used the most then all my other guns.
I watched a guy deliberately gouge the finish on his brand new Weatherby so he would not have to worry about it getting dinged while hunting. He was definitely a hunter.
I can't share a Colt story....I do not have one.
But I do have a few S&W's
I have a Bodyguard .380 that I pocket carry in the summer.
The Laser got problematic after a couple of years and stopped working. I contacted S & W through their website and explained it to them.
A day or two later they called me and asked about the purchase date and serial number.
The new Bodyguards have the Crimson Trace lasers, the earlier ones had one from some other company. After a couple of minutes with the rep on the phone, He got my information and sent me a new laser, a Crimson Trace replacement N/C.
He then apologized for my inconvenience.
I had the new laser in a couple of days and I installed it without a problem.
I think that is superior customer service.
My new 642 has plain old-fashioned non-adjustable iron sights which I like on a defense handgun. I'm just sad about my own screwing the Colt's finish up since the gun was expensive. $900 for a concealable 3" revolver is a stupid high price. I got a couple nicks on the barrel while practicing quick-draw with the Colt from my fanny pack. I was standing over my bed and the King Cobra (unloaded of course) fell out of the pack and tumbled onto my bed where I left a set of car keys. I saw all these "wonderful" videos about shining up stainless revolvers and "removing" scratches: I keyed my own new pricey revolver! I tried using 2000-5000 grit sandpaper, Comet, Brasso, high-speed buffing wheels and that made everything all the worse. Never trust advice from YouTube on gun care. I have not even fired the Colt or the Smith yet since brand new. Only a professional gunsmith or Colt can undo the finish damage to my snake gun. Since I live in SW Oklahoma and most people around here don't care much about cosmetics, I might be able to dump the Colt. It might cost more to fix the finish than what I might lose by selling the gun. I was able to get a decent shine on the barrel. But fine scratches will be observed when held up to bright light at a certain angle.
I think I am more overprotective of the finish on my guns than most, but the reality is they all get a scratch or two if you use them. I take good care of my hunting rifles, but each one has minor scratches and a bump or two on the stock. When I look at them I remember each hunting trip where it happened on most marks, some just happened and I don’t know how. Point is they are just aesthetics and will not affect the performance of the firearm.
If I was you, I would hold on to the Colt and remember how you did that...might keep you from a repeat.
I think I am more overprotective of the finish on my guns than most, but the reality is they all get a scratch or two if you use them. I take good care of my hunting rifles, but each one has minor scratches and a bump or two on the stock. When I look at them I remember each hunting trip where it happened on most marks, some just happened and I don’t know how. Point is they are just aesthetics and will not affect the performance of the firearm.
If I was you, I would hold on to the Colt and remember how you did that...might keep you from a repeat.
I just listed this stupid gun on Armslist. It retails for $900 and is very hard to find in stock. I'll see if it goes for $750. The market for handguns is pretty good in my area. I'll let the poor sap who buys it deal with Colt. I still can't get a hold of their Customer "Disservice" after several days. I'll let some fool take it off my hands. Then I'll get a Smith 686 .357 for cougar country like I should have done to begin with. Or maybe a nice similar preowned Smith .357 3" mid-frame. The Smith stainless revolvers have that hard-to-scratch brushed finish which is much more practical than Colt mirror. I don't like the feel of the Colt trigger anyway. I like Smith double-action triggers much better. It's all my own fault. I read bad reviews about Colt before even buying it. I was a shill for the Pony but no more. If I ever buy an AR it sure won't be a Colt brand. I'll eat crow on this Pony. I've washed my hands of COLT products for good.
On stainless Mother's Mag Wheel Polish is your friend along with a extra fine Scotchbrite pad. Give it a few months to where the stainless starts to dull a tad and you might be surprised how much better it looks.
That's OK dawg, I can't remove the barrel from the frame anyway. This KC is up for sale as of now. If I get a nice new or preowned Smith to replace it, I certainly won't monkey around with the finish or practice quick-draw from a fanny pack over a bed with metal objects on it.
I also have my eye on that Ruger GP-100 3", nice satin stainless finish. SOLD, out of stock all over Google on both the Smith 686+ and the Ruger 1715. People really want new d/a revolvers in .357/.38 Special and +P more than you think. I think that Ruger looks nicer than a Model 686+.
The OP admits he marred the finish on his revolver, there is no indication there was anything wrong with it when he took possession.
If I wanted another Colt right now, I would get one without any hesitation. 1911's, SAA's and 2020 Pythons, I have some of all three types and am a satisfied customer.
I shoot cast tumble lubed bullets only in all my revolvers and after about 200 rounds you can’t tell if they are black or stainless let alone if they’re cosmetically challenged.
I find this whole slant against Colt in this thread a little...misdirected, in my opinion. I do not deny the OP has difficulty contacting Colt, but the Colt revolver in question has no problem associated with Colt manufacturing, rather it is all operator/owner error resulting in flawed aesthetics only. The fit and function of the revolver was never in question, so it seems a bit arbitrary at best and quite unwarranted to be bashing Colt at this point. While I acknowledge that other folks may have problems with today’s Colt firearms, that is not the case here.
I have owned an Anaconda in .45 Colt and a lightweight Commander 1911. Both were good handguns, zero trouble with good fit and finish. But I have not owned a Colt for 15 years now, so I cannot speak for the latest stuff.
I've mentioned this in another post here on this site, years ago when we lived in Colorado I bought a Ruger Security Six stainless steel .357 mag with a 6" barrel, I handloaded with hard cast lead bullets and a guy I knew wanted to try those loads in his Python, he called me up to say that they wouldn't work in the Python and the next time I saw him he showed me why, my handloads that worked so well in the Ruger stuck out of the cylinders of his Python about 1/8th", sure surprised me as I thought all .357 revolvers were standardized for length of their cylinders, to me that said a lot for Ruger, I've never owned a S&W in .357 to know if they would have short cylinders like the Python.
Guns are tools, not works of art, unless of course they are works of art....
The best thing to do is when you get a new one is to intentionally put a ding on it and get it over with. I do the same thing with a new truck; I get in the bed with a ball peen hammer and knock a dent in the wheel well then I don't have to worry about it any more. I don't remember every calling Ford and complaining about it when I was done, but I may have, I am getting old and somewhat forgetful.....
for almost 100 years, the saying amongst gunsmiths was that Colt never learned to make a DA revolver and smith never learned to make an autoloader. That changed with the M52 and M41 smiths, but it wasn't until they brought out the M and P series that they had a decent fighting autopistol. Colt has been a lost cause since the 80's.
I beg to differ. The S&W model 39 and it's younger cousins and nephews are among the finest semi automatic pistols ever made. I'd put my S&W 915 against anything you have in your safe and it was one of their cheaper models. I might agree with you on Colt revolvers, they are too delicate.
the model 39 had much too steep of a feed ramp for reliable feeding with the lightest jhp's, which is what you have to use if you want reliable expansion in flesh. The DA-SA changeover, while not as bad as a Walter, was still pretty poor.
With all due respect I must disagree.
You must have gotten hold of a lemon. The m/59 started the nickname "wondernine", I seriously doubt a pistol worthy of starting that complimentary a handle would be a POS. The ultimate semi auto in my humble opinion is the Hi Power. FN, and Feg, perhaps the two largest builders of Hi Power type pistols have experimented with a SA/DA version, Feg sold one for years, what pistol system did they use to copy? The S&W m/59. True the 39 and 59 had issues with anything but ball as did every other auto designed in that era but by the time the 2nd gens. came out and more so the 3rd gens. that problem had been remedied. The model 5906 is as fine an all metal 9mm. as just about anything out there. Several reports of pistols with over 50,000 rounds through the pipe with minimal maintenance. Accuracy is on par with any auto built for it's purpose and most important the 5906 and it's 3rd gen. kin go boom when you pull the trigger, it's reliability has never been questioned, ball, JHP, whatever.
I own an M&P, a 639 and a 915. The 915 would be the keeper.
Smith&Wesson: I don't do Colt revolvers. I had returned my Smith 28-2 for what may have been problems slightly out of time. The gun was returned not needing repair. I had words with the rep. The guy issued another return label. In the meantime I realized the error was mine. The gun was not sent back Shoots great. This is a current event as in this year.
It took some time to get around to my gun. Under the current circumstances, I really have no complaints. The company was willing to stand behind their work and product. This is my experience with Smith. Ruger also has great customer service. Two Vaquero were sent back this year. Used guns needing Bubba work seen to. Guns are in current use and work great.
Picked up a new King Cobra a year or so back. Less than 100 rounds thru it, and there won't be any more till the current shortage abates, (if it ever does). So far, so good. I've got a couple 70's vintage Colts, a Police Positive and Detective Special with the traditional rich blue finish. I know that stainless steel is a more practical finish, but the old ones sure look a lot nicer IMHO. Once ammo's available, (and affordable), again, I'll give this weapon a good workout, render a final verdict then.
Blued steel looks good! I like stainless, and modern finishes are practical and enduring, but blued steel I like the most!
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