Never Buy a Smith and Wesson

I bought a Smith and Wesson Shield Plus in December of last year. This gun was intended to be my wife's Christmas present and carry gun (this is the specific gun she wanted, not one I tried foisting on her). She opened it on Christmas and was initially very happy with it. However, during some dry fire practice, she noted that the magazine failed to drop free. Not only did it fail to drop free but it require a pretty significant amount of force to pull it out of the gun. I was able to identify the culprit. The follower was missing the slide stop and getting jammed against its sharp corner. This required grabbing the magazine and yanking it hard to remove it. I also discovered another problem during my investigation. When you pulled the slide back and manually engaged the slide stop, the slide couldn't be released by pulling it back and releasing it unless you simultaneously put a pretty significant amount of downward force on the slide stop.

While I wasn't happy that this brand new gun was exhibiting problems out of the box, I knew Smith and Wesson to be a reputable company and figured a quick trip back to the factory would solve the problems. I gave Smith and Wesson a call, explained the problems the gun was exhibiting, and was given an RMA and return label. Per the instructions sent along with the return label, I typed up a description of the problems the gun was exhibiting and place the letter in the box. In the letter I also mentioned that I had both pictures and videos showing the problems and how to quickly replicate them and provided both a phone number and e-mail address so they could contact me and get those pictures and videos. Then I made a call to FexEx, setup a pickup, and the gun was on its way to Smith and Wesson the next day. Two days later I received an e-mail from Smith and Wesson indicating that they received my gun.

Several weeks passed and I received another e-mail stating that my gun was returning. Two days later I had the Shield Plus in hand. I removed the gun and verified that the issue with the magazines grinding against the slide stop was fixed. However, the issue with the slide stop jamming up the slide was not fixed. I called Smith and Wesson again and explained that the second issue I reported was not fixed. I also emphasized the fact that I had both pictures and videos showing the problem and how to recreate it. I was assured that it would be taken care of and received another RMA. Once again a typed up a letter with even more specifics about the problem and how to reproduce it and again noted that I would provide pictures and videos upon request. When I packaged the gun, I put it in the problem state with the slide jammed back. There's no way they can miss it now, I thought. Back to Smith and Wesson the gun went.

A few more weeks passed until I received an e-mail telling me that my gun was coming back. When I removed the gun, the slide was actually in the jammed state. The paperwork for the work order stated "Slide Binds, Difficult/Impossible to release." Then it stated, "Cannot Duplicate Customer Complaint." That was insulting considering the gun came back from them with the slide jammed. Not only that, but nobody from Smith and Wesson contacted me. If they had, I could've explained how to replicate the problem (pull the slide back while pressing up on the slide stop, it's not rocket science) and sent the pictures and videos that I offered. Until this point, I had been very polite and professional with Smith and Wesson. I had offered every possible way I could think of to help them replicate the problem.

I called a third time. This time I expressed in no uncertain terms my disappointment with how this entire mess had been handled so far. The customer service representative eventually asked if I wanted a replacement gun. At this point, I was so pissed off at the gun and Smith and Wesson that what I really wanted was a refund so I could go buy a gun from literally anybody else. But I decided to give the company one more chance to make it right. After all, the third time's a charm, right? I confirmed with the customer service representative that an exchange was possible. He assured me it was and sent the RMA. Back the gun went.

Yesterday FedEx dropped off the gun. Inside the box wasn't a different Shield Plus. It was the same one I sent. I checked the service paperwork. This time it said, "Fails To Feed" and the corrective measure was to "Polish Barrel/Chamber." To quote the great poets GWAR, "It's gone beyond hatred this time." How could I report a failure to feed when I have yet to shoot the gun? As of yesterday, the gun has been at my home for maybe three or four weeks. All but a few of those days were immediately after Christmas. Otherwise the gun has either been on a FedEx truck or at Smith and Wesson.

I called Smith and Wesson yet again. This time I had to preface to the customer service representative that I wasn't mad at her, but at Smith and Wesson as a company because professionalism was no longer on the table (according to my wife, I still sounded more or less polite). I explained the entire saga to her and the fact that this time the paperwork referenced an error I wouldn't have been able to report since I still haven't shot the gun. She claimed that their system doesn't have an entry for every possible error condition so customer service representatives often have to pick something close, but assured me that the notes indicated that it was a slide malfunction. She didn't have much to say when I asked why previous paperwork stated "Slide Binds" (so that error condition does exist in their system) and the latest paperwork said the barrel and chamber were polished, which would only be done to fix a feeding issue. I then explained how I offered to provide both pictures and videos that shows the problem and how to replicated it. Her response was that there's no way for the gunsmiths to receive those because they "don't have access to computers." I'm left to assume that an errand boy prints off work orders and manually runs them down to the floor. More importantly, why didn't the three previous customer service representatives mention this when I emphasized the pictures and videos I could send?

Then I bought up the fact that the previous representative offered me an exchange but I received my old gun. She informed me that customer service representatives aren't authorized to approve exchanges and wasn't sure why the previous representative made such a promise. Then she asked me to explain the issue I was having from the top, which I did in excruciating detail. Afterwards she put me on hold to talk to her supervisor. There was a back and forth where she would ask me for additional details, some of which were downright insulting ("Do you have an empty magazine inserted into the gun?"), then put me on hold again. After three of four back and forths (I lost count), she offered to send me an RMA again but emphasized that she couldn't guarantee that the gun would be exchanged. I told her that at this point I want a refund. Not only was she not authorized to offer a refund, but she told me that since Smith and Wesson doesn't sell directly to consumers, they don't issue refunds (which is rather interesting since I have friends who received refunds from Sig for broken guns and Sig is the king of denying there are problems with their guns). She stated again that she could issue an RMA but couldn't guarantee anything would be done. Finally I pulled a Karen and asked her to put me on with somebody who could guarantee me something.

After a short spell on hold, I was talking to her supervisor. He explained that what I was experiencing was "expected behavior for a new Shield Plus out of the box" and that it will "sort itself out after firing a few rounds through the gun." Somehow the four customer service representatives to whom I previously talked and the three (I'm assuming) gunsmiths who worked on the gun failed to mention this. I also haven't found any mention of it in the user manual. Considering this kind of behavior isn't expected in literally any other mass produced self-defense pistol on the market, you think that would be brought to the consumer's attention. I suspect that the reason none of the customer service representatives or gunsmiths mentioned this is because it's bullshit.

I'm going to try shooting some rounds through it to see if it magically fixes the slide. Not because I think it'll work, but because it's my only option. Smith and Wesson can't guarantee me that they'll do anything if I send the gun in a forth time. They won't take the gun back and refund me my money. There's also the fact that they've lied to me multiple times so I can't trust anything they say. I also suspect that the supervisor was gaslighting me but I will withhold final judgment until I've shot a few magazines of ammunition through the gun.

The problem here isn't that Smith and Wesson makes bad guns. I own several Smith and Wessons that have given me zero trouble. The problem is if you do have problems with one of their guns, you're on your own. Smith and Wesson doesn't stand behind their product. They don't follow through with promises. Worst of all, they lie.

There are many reputable manufacturers who make good guns. There's no reason you need to buy from a company like Smith and Wesson that's incompetent and dishonest. Avoid Smith and Wesson like the plague.