How Springfield Armory is screwing up their XDs recall. (UPDATE) No end in sight.

UPDATE to my post of 5 September. (24 Sep) :  Thousands of people interested in this recall and how it's being handled so badly have read this post... by far, among the most viewed that I've ever done... a sign of the lack of information and mishandling by Springfield Arms with this recall.

Unfortunately, of those having read my meager effort, Springfield Armory does not appear to be one of them.

I received and then verified the following update: It's disturbing in that any company similarly situated could respond this way to their screw up.... and I join with Mark in concluding that SA will never get another dime from me... again.

Mark Carroll said...

New Information I just got off the phone with a supervisor in customer service and she finally after much prodding gave me the low down. Springfield does not have the fix for the issue yet. The 30 day period that they are telling you will not be correct. All of the guns are being held until their final testing is done and they have the final fix for the problem. With the guns being produced in Croatia, the testing and final parts production for the fix are being done there. I guess I will only buy guns made in the good old US from now on. Be prepared to do without your gun for a long period of time. The supervisor told me that they honestly do not know when the repairs will be made or when the final testing will be done to give the OK to even start producing the parts to fix the guns. The Sig recall on my P238 was done and back to me in less than a week with a free magazine. That is customer service. I will get rid of this gun when I get it back and will NEVER buy another Springfield product.

The way this should have been handled is to have issued a "stop-firing" order, done nationwide PR on that effort, and simultaneously developing and producing the parts needed to fix this issue... and then distributing the parts to the, at minimum, retail centers who sell these weapons for their instant repair on the spot.  They then shouldn have gi9ven at least one 7 round magazine to each of us who've now gone weeks without the weapons we purchased in good faith based on a reputation up to now of a solid product, backed by a company that actually gave a damn.

Well, I'm about to start my 4th week without my relatively expensive, unfired handgun... with, apparently, no end in sight.

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Springfield Armory makes a few models of pistols that I like.  As a result, I decided to get a smaller .45 (That Colt Government is getting heavy...) so early last month or so I picked up a XDs .45 3.3... a nice weapon, but not exactly what I was looking for, as it turned out, but nice, none-the-less.) So, I swung by the Cabela's in Olympia, where I got hosed on the price (My bad, not theirs... no one made me buy it, but discovering it was 84$ cheaper in Portland at NW Armory didn't give me a thrill.)





So, imagine my dismay when, even before I could fire it, they recalled it over the grip safety and a single pull/double-fire issue.

That's OK, I guess.  Even Bentleys have been recalled, I thought.

They did a really good job of setting up the FedEx return, although, because it's a firearm, you have to take it to a FedEx store and not a drop off box.  I'm not sure why... the guy never asked me what was in the package.

Anyway, FedEx did what they do, and the weapon was received in Moline, IL on Tuesday this week.

But then, the thought occurred to me that nowhere had they posted what the turn-around time was going to be.

So, I thought I'd call them to find out.  And that's where it got stupid.

Their phone system is wholly inadequate for the call volume, so I kept getting a "circuits are busy" intercept.

I called back repeatedly, and on my 8th attempt, got through.

The first option they offered was to hit "7" for information relevant to the XDs recall.

As you might expect, there was a wait.  A LONG wait, with annoying elevator music and a witch doing a voice-over every 30 seconds to tell us we could wait or hit 1 to leave a message.

When I finally got to a human, I asked him: so what's the turnaround time on this?

He didn't know.  Somewhere towards the end of September was all he had.

And that, folks, is no way to run an airline.

It wasn't this guy's fault: he can only say what he was told to say.

But after dropping almost 6 bills on a pistol that I haven't even been able to fire, and then to be told they don't know when they can return it?

That.

Sucks.

So, I did what I always do when the service or information is inadequate.

I asked to talk to his boss.

"She's gone for the rest of the day," I was told.

What the hell is up with that?

I told him "Look, I appreciate that none of this is your fault, and I'm even willing to eat the fact that my unfired weapon has been recalled.  But between the absurd phone system and your complete lack of useful information, what on earth makes you think that I'd ever even consider buying another weapon from your company?"

Well, he said, this is the first time we've had a recall.

I responded: "And?  I'm talking about some common sense here.  I used to be an armorer in the Army: I know how long it takes to pull a grip apart and replace the parts.  We're not talking about a missile warhead here."

He offered to take down my name and number and have her call me tomorrow,.  I provided it, and I look forward to it.

But the customer service better get better and fast, or I will never darken SA's doorway again.

Glock is right down the street.