Standing Behind Their Products

[Subdeacon Joe]

Found on FB

 

In 1963, Bill Lear (of Learjet fame) was living in Geneva, Switzerland and flying a surplus P-51. After numerous problems with the starter clutch on his Packard-built Merlin, he contacted Rolls-Royce. They instructed Lear to send them the clutch, which was quickly repaired and returned. Lear wrote: “I called my benefactor to thank him and to ask him when to expect an invoice. His reply was: ‘My dear Mr. Lear, Rolls-Royce-designed products do not fail. They may require occasional adjustment, but this is covered by our unlimited warranty. So there is no charge, sir.’ I was blown away. The engine and clutch had been manufactured under license in the U.S.A. by Packard in 1944, yet Rolls still stood behind them in 1963!” #packard #rollsroycemerlin #rollsroyce #merlinpower #p51mustang #v12engine #spitfire  #aviationphotography #warbird #engineering #mechanicalengineering #britishengineering #keepemflying #taildragger #v12 #aviation #p51d #planesoffame #flyinglegends #aviation #avgeek #warbird #history #wherewarbirdsfly  #isap_aviationphotography #aviationphotographer

 

 

[Pat Riot]

Unlike today where loopholes are used to squash agreed to warranties and guarantees at every turn. 
 

I wonder what would happen if that same scenario occurred today?

I doubt Rolls Royce would come through. 
 

I think it should be the law of the land that all corporations should be forthright in all their contracts, guarantees and warranties and just dropp all their fine print BS and write the words “You’re F***ed” in those sections of their contracts. It sure would save a lot of time. 

[Alpo]

Used to was, Ruger did not have a warranty. No warranty either stated or implied. But if something went wrong with your Ruger you sent it back to them and they fixed it. No charge. I sent two pistols back. Not only repaired but completely refinished. No charge. I told them I had a gun with a broken part. They sent me a replacement part. No charge.

 

But then Bill died. And their policy changed.

[Eyesa Horg]

Back during the COVID BS and we got our Govt go buy a gun checks; I bought a pair of Wranglers. While doing a spring change on them, I managed to mangle the pawl plunger spring putting the grip frame back on one of them. Sent Ruger an email to ask if the spring was available and how to order. Never got a reply to my email, but 3 days later a spring showed up in my mailbox! Seemed like good service to me!

[Alpo]

I removed the grip frames from my us firearms and shipped them to Tru Ivory. And they fitted the grips to the frames. But when I got them back I had somehow managed to misplace one of the screws.

 

So I wrote us firearms and I told them that I lost it and how much would it cost to get a replacement screw.

 

About a week later - I never heard anything from them - I got a little package with all three screws needed to put the grip frame back on the gun. No charge. I thought that was pretty good.

[Wallaby Jack, SASS #44062]

I have heard a similar story about Rolls Royce, it involved a driveshaft on a RR automobile. RR was contacted about spares to fix it, they sent a shipping voucher for the part to be sent to them. the part was promptly repaired and returned but no bill. The car owner re-contacted RR wishing to pay for services rendered and was informed there was no charge because "Rolls Royce products don't break".

 

I have had a notdissimilar experience with Dillon Precision whereby they insisted on replacing the primer feed on my 550 at no charge ...... so, because international shipping was involved, I bought some other products which needed shipping charges and they included the part in that package.

 

I like Rolls Royce

I love Dillon Precision

🙃

[Rip Snorter]

5 minutes ago, Wallaby Jack, SASS #44062 said:

I have heard a similar story about Rolls Royce, it involved a driveshaft on a RR automobile. RR was contacted about spares to fix it, they sent a shipping voucher for the part to be sent to them. the part was promptly repaired and returned but no bill. The car owner re-contacted RR wishing to pay for services rendered and was informed there was no charge because "Rolls Royce products don't break".

 

I have had a notdissimilar experience with Dillon Precision whereby they insisted on replacing the primer feed on my 550 at no charge ...... so, because international shipping was involved, I bought some other products which needed shipping charges and they included the part in that package.

 

I like Rolls Royce

I love Dillon Precision

🙃

Will never have a RR, but Dillon has been fantastic down decades in respect to customer service and warrantee.

[Pat Riot]

5 hours ago, Alpo said:

Used to was, Ruger did not have a warranty. No warranty either stated or implied. But if something went wrong with your Ruger you sent it back to them and they fixed it. No charge. I sent two pistols back. Not only repaired but completely refinished. No charge. I told them I had a gun with a broken part. They sent me a replacement part. No charge.

 

But then Bill died. And their policy changed.

This is from the Ruger SFAR manual that I downloaded after purchasing my gun. This item is the same in all of their manuals. 
——————————————————

WHY NO WARRANTY CARD HAS BEEN

PACKED WITH THIS NEW RUGER® FIREARM

The Magnuson-Moss Act (Public Law 93-637) does not require any

seller or manufacturer of a consumer product to give a written

warranty. It does provide that if a written warranty is given, it must be

designated as “limited” or as “full” and sets minimum standards for a

“full” warranty. Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. has elected not to

provide any written warranty, either “limited” or “full”, rather than to

attempt to comply with the provisions of the Magnuson-Moss Act and

the regulations issued thereunder. There are certain implied

warranties under state law with respect to sales of consumer goods. As

the extent and interpretation of these implied warranties varies from

state to state, you should refer to your state statutes. Sturm, Ruger &

Company wishes to assure its customers of its continued interest in

providing service to owners of Ruger® firearms.

STURM, RUGER & Company, Inc.

——————————————-

If you call Ruger they will say “We do not have a specific warranty. If your gun is broke, send it to us and we’ll fix it.” They have never told me to see what my state laws are. They just fix it. 

 

THE ABOVE WAS COPIED AND PASTED FROM A RUGER SFAR MANUAL ON PAGE 60.

YOU CAN FIND IT HERE:

https://ruger-docs.s3.amazonaws.com/_manuals/sfar.pdf

[Alpo]

I have not had anything to do with Ruger customer service since the mid 80s.

 

I have, however, heard many times the Ruger now charges for repairs.

 

If this is incorrect, I apologize for spreading malicious rumors. But I have heard from many places that Ruger now charges for repairs. They did not use to do that.

[Subdeacon Joe]

49 minutes ago, Pat Riot said:

THE ABOVE WAS COPIED AND PASTED FROM A RUGER SFAR MANUAL ON PAGE 60.

 

If all the repetitively redundant warnings and cautions were removed,  that 60 page tome would be 6 or 7 pages.

[Wallaby Jack, SASS #44062]

let us not forget prop65 and it's related importance .......  🤢

[Rum River #36276]

I was working at a gun shop. A brand new Ruger PC carbine came in. I was assembling it for display when I managed to drop the plastic stock only on the concrete floor, breaking off a 1/2" x 3/4" piece of the forearm tip on one side.

 

Nuts.

 

Feeling bad about the whole thing, I bought it from the store with the idea of contouring both sides of the forearm tip so it looked better.

Can always use another gun, right?

 

My co-workers suggested checking with Ruger. I called them, emphasizing that it broke because I did something stupid.

They sent me a brand new stock for free.

[Cypress Sun]

1 hour ago, Rip Snorter said:

Will never have a RR, but Dillon has been fantastic down decades in respect to customer service and warrantee.

 

Dillon still has one of the best warranties around although they no longer have the No BS Lifetime Warranty on electronic parts or accessories....but that seems to differ on the customer service person you talk to.

[Eyesa Horg]

Dillon has also always taken care of me as well. For little I've needed parts! 

[John Kloehr]

The stand I ordered from Dillon arrived with a corner of the shipping box open. Clearly shipper handling. Anyway, missing 3 screws.

 

Called Dillon, they asked for my order number, and sent out an entire new hardware bag. I figured the 3 screws were in a separate small bag which fell out of the box, turns out the big sealed hardware bag was supposed to include them.

 

Anyway, having provided the order number, Dillon confirmed my address and sent it out. It was only after getting a complete new hardware bag I realized it was a Dillon error and not the shipper. But as my first post-sales experience with Dillon, I am absolutely pleased. No excuses, no BS, no "have you looked twice," just "we'll get that shipped out to you."

[Pat Riot]

34 minutes ago, Cypress Sun said:

 

Dillon still has one of the best warranties around although they no longer have the No BS Lifetime Warranty on electronic parts or accessories....but that seems to differ on the customer service person you talk to.

My Dillon vibe tumbler motor died. The unit was nearly 20 years old. They wouldn’t warranty it. The motor was no longer made. 
I don’t blame them. I definitely got my money’s worth. 

[Eyesa Horg]

Ha, I got greedy I guess with Midway about 10 years ago! 

I read somewhere that there was a recall on their vibratory tumbler and they were replacing them at no charge including both way shipping.

Mine was at least 20 years old, so figured what the heck!

Called them to verify and sure enough, mine was in the serial range and they were shipping me a brandy new tumbler with a return label to send back the old one .

While the new one, a Frankfort Arsenal, has worked fine for the last ten years, I think the old Midway did a better job! 

 

[Cypress Sun]

1 hour ago, Eyesa Horg said:

Dillon has also always taken care of me as well. For little I've needed parts! 

 

Every time I've broken a part or a part wore out, Dillon has replaced the part(s) promptly, without question and without charge.

 

One time, I broke an ram arm through my own fault. I happened as I was reloading for a State match that I had waited until the last moment (week before) to make match rounds. I called Dillon and told them about breaking the arm by my own fault and procrastinating making "big match" ammo. The Dillon rep said he'd take care of it, didn't matter if it was my fault or not. He didn't tell me they were going to do it, but they overnighted the arm and I had it in about 24 hours. Now that's customer service above and beyond expectations.

 

Dillon's No BS Warranty is just that...No BS.

Your fault, my fault, nobody's fault....they'll take care of it.

[Forty Rod SASS 3935]

While I was working in a sporting goods store in Pekin, IL an old man came in to buy a replacement stock for a Nylon 66.  His grandson was helping him clean the garage and backed over the gun breaking the stock at the wrist.  

 

We called the distributer who had a factory rep drive down from Chicago.  We called the old man and had him bring the rifle back.  The rep gave him a new rifle and expedited the paper work (this was in 1972...I doubt he could get that done today).

 

The old man was so happy he went to a pizza place three doors down in the mall and brought back  five pizzas because the rep told him "That stock is supposed to be indestructible even if your grandson did back over it in the driveway".

 

I don't find that kind of thing much any more.

[watab kid]

we only see that kind of service rarely these days , 

[DeaconKC]

I am the guy who usually handles Customer Service at out LGS. Amazingly, two of the least expensive makers out there, Hi-Point and Heritage, have the absolute best customer support. S&W, Ruger and Sig are also great. We wouldn't even carry Charter Arms if Davidson's didn't handle them [they give a lifetime warranty, replacing a bad gun] and we no longer stock new Kimbers because their CS is the worst in the business.

[Sedalia Dave]

3 hours ago, DeaconKC said:

I am the guy who usually handles Customer Service at out LGS. Amazingly, two of the least expensive makers out there, Hi-Point and Heritage, have the absolute best customer support. S&W, Ruger and Sig are also great. We wouldn't even carry Charter Arms if Davidson's didn't handle them [they give a lifetime warranty, replacing a bad gun] and we no longer stock new Kimbers because their CS is the worst in the business.

 

Yep I've heard many stories of Hi-Point repairing or replacing their firearms even if you caused the failure.

 

 

RCBS has sent me parts free of charge even though it was my fault the part was lost.

[Pat Riot]

15 hours ago, Sedalia Dave said:

RCBS has sent me parts free of charge even though it was my fault the part was lost.

Same here. I lost a spring for my Auto Prime. They sent me the entire plunger AND a spare spring. 
 

Henry warranted my X model even though I bought it used. 
My wife’s uncle gave me a Frontier Octagon .22 Magnum. It was new but a few years old. They’ll warranty it as well, if I need it. 

[bgavin]

I suppose Rolls Royce and Lucas have two entirely different lines of thought, and warranties.

[Rooster Ron Wayne]

My cousin had a 9 mm carbine rifle.

He took a hacksaw and cut the stock in half because he thought it would look cool as a pistol.

He wrote a email to High Point and told them what he did, They mailed him a new stock. 

No charge !

Rooster 

[Big Sage, SASS #49891 Life]

On 2/7/2025 at 2:07 AM, Sedalia Dave said:

 

 

 

 

RCBS has sent me parts free of charge even though it was my fault the part was lost.

Same for me with RCBS. 

I have had similar results with Leupold riflescopes  and optics. I have used only Leupold  for many, many years and have not had to use their warranty services much. One really stands out. My Dad was getting up in age and fell when we were deer hunting. His rifle landed on a rock and broke one of the lenses in his old Leupold 6x. It was old enough it didn't have the "gold ring lifetime warranty" because they didn't do that when he bought the scope many years before. I called Leupold and told them about the scope and they said send it to us and we will see what we can do. I got a call a couple of weeks later and they told me that the scope was not repairable. They ask me what my Dad would like for a replacement. I said a new VXIII 3x9 variable was what I was going to replace it with. They told me they would send me one free of charge.  Now that's customer service!

[Rum River #36276]

52 minutes ago, Big Sage, SASS #49891 Life said:

I have used only Leupold  for many, many years and have not had to use their warranty services much.

Me too. Had a high-end spotting scope with angled eyepiece. It was on a tripod and about 3 1/2 feet off the ground when the wind caught it and slammed it to the concrete. Broke the eyepiece off the body. Leupold replaced the entire briefcase kit with a new one for free.

[Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967]

This goes back a ways:  When Sassparilla Kid was about ten or so (23 years ago?), I bought him a new Henry .22 from a shop in Fresno.  When we were finally able to pick it up (after this state's stoopid mandatory "cooling off" period) we took it to the range, and sadly it performed poorly.  Would literally jam about every third of fourth shot.

 

We took it back to the shop were we bought it, the proprietor said he'd have to send it back to Henry.  Might take a week or two.  Okay... so we left it with him and waited.  And waited.  A month or more passed, and I called the shop; "Dunno.  Gonna have to wait for it."

 

So, I called Henry.  About the third ring and none other than Anthony Imperato himself answered!  I explained why I was calling, and after expressing surprise and dismay at our experience, he said "hold on a minute, would you?" and put me on hold.  A few minutes later, he came back on and said that they had no record of the gun's return.  But, he said, that didn't matter - he was going to personally see to it that a new replacement was sent out immediately.  And he did!  Two days later I got a call from the gun shop - the replacement had arrived.  Sadly, since it was a different gun with a different serial number, we had to do the stoopid waiting thing again.  But it's served the Kid well for over two decades.

 

And the Henry service was perfect!  Heck... I even got to talk to the man hisself!  

 

 

                   

              

[Pat Riot]

10 minutes ago, Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967 said:

So, I called Henry.  About the third ring and none other than Anthony Imperato himself answered!

I met him at the Orange County Gun Show back in the late 90’s. Very nice gent. He was promoting his Henry .22 rifles. 

[Alpo]

2 hours ago, Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967 said:

About the third ring and none other than Anthony Imperato himself answered!

That's kind of shocking isn't it?

 

I called Smith & Wesson a few years ago. I had heard that they would give you a date if you called. They wouldn't give you a letter - they would sell you a letter - but they would give you the shipping date. I figured they were going to transfer me to some girl sitting at a computer. So the phone rings a couple of times and then this guy says, "Roy Jinks".

 

Damn.