Customer Service?? What customer service?

[markus123]

:butthead: I called the only contact number available from the Taurus website for customer service wanting to ask some questions. I first got a rude lady that didn't even let me finish talking before transferring me over to customer service. Then I got a message saying all customer service reps were busy at the moment. It gives you an option to either wait, hang up, or leave a message. I decided to wait, hoping that maybe one of the reps might have some time for me. NOPE, 20-30 minutes later I was still waiting. This has happened both times I tried to call them. If this is what I can expect from Taurus I don't know if I wanna purchase from them. Whatever, just thought I would share that bit of info to people were interesting in buying a Taurus pistol.

[sdmahr]

It seems as though this is a common complaint with Taurus. I own 3 Taurus guns and fortunately, I have not had the need to use the "Customer Service". I do have the PT 1911 and I wouldn't let this type of pistol scare you away. It is a well known design and parts are basically interchangeable with other 1911's making your dependence on Taurus for parts and service not really necessary.

[JKD COBRA]

It seems as though this is a common complaint with Taurus. I own 3 Taurus guns and fortunately, I have not had the need to use the "Customer Service". I do have the PT 1911 and I wouldn't let this type of pistol scare you away. It is a well known design and parts are basically interchangeable with other 1911's making your dependence on Taurus for parts and service not really necessary.
I agree. I would focus more on the reliability and quality of a pistol instead of the customer service line. I know customer service is important if your running a business but if your going to give up on purchasing the PT1911 because you were put on hold it sounds like you weren't that serious about purchasing one in the fist place.

[razr]

Markus123
I totally agree with you! Call the customer service first to find out where they are located and how they treat and handle your concern. You want what you pay for to be covered or be better off buying used, then you can change all the parts.

I have written Charles Daily twice with questions and not received a single response yet. Guess what, not gonna buy a Charles Daily.

[Hunter]

I myself believe customer service can make or break a company or at least help me make my decision if I will do business with them.
When I call Colt, Springfield, Hornady, Sierra, or Lyman. I have always got excellent customer service from all them and that is what keeps me a loyal customer.
If you did have a problem and had to send it in for what ever reason or just need to ask a few questions would it be worth the hassel?

[John]

I agree. I would focus more on the reliability and quality of a pistol instead of the customer service line. I know customer service is important if your running a business but if your going to give up on purchasing the PT1911 because you were put on hold it sounds like you weren't that serious about purchasing one in the fist place.
Well, this is certainly a first! Ignore the level of customer service? It's the first time I hear someone saying that. So you do not mind if your car breaks down one month after you bought it and the service station is in Alaska, while you are in Texas? Of if your brand new 40" TV stops working one week after you buy it? And there is no service for that brand?

Sorry, I have to disagree with you.

[sdmahr]

Well, this is certainly a first! Ignore the level of customer service? It's the first time I hear someone saying that. So you do not mind if your car breaks down one month after you bought it and the service station is in Alaska, while you are in Texas? Of if your brand new 40" TV stops working one week after you buy it? And there is no service for that brand?

Sorry, I have to disagree with you.

I agree with your argument if we are talking about a car or a 40" TV. A 1911 Pistol ? : Not a big deal. Less than $500.00 spent, a "standard design", and interchangeable parts available everywhere. Not exactly a comparison.

I really do think it is very poor or Taurus to have such a reputation for customer service. There is no doubt this causes them to loose sales and create unsatisfied customers. I cannot think of a better way to run-off customers than to run that end of the business without attention to the customer.

That being said, IF I was to consider another model manufactured by Taurus, the customer care and service would be of great concern to me.....but the 1911 is not because of the reasons stated above.

[John]

Still, a cracked slide, for example, can cost you about 200-300$ to replace. Why should you bother? If at the same price there are other vendors, with exemplary or just adequate customer service?

I am not trying to bad-mouth Taurus, I am just describing how I would think, if I was in US.

[raveneap]

I've found that the "busy" message is sometimes the answer but also found that if I left my number I got a call back very quickly. Also, most of the time I get transfered to Customer Service and get a real live person. Most of my calls were in reference to the release date of the PT1911 and we all know, that date kept getting extended for a year or so. But I did usually get thru to someone. Haven't had to call lately since I finally got the PT1911.

[sdmahr]

Still, a cracked slide, for example, can cost you about 200-300$ to replace. Why should you bother? If at the same price there are other vendors, with exemplary or just adequate customer service?

I am not trying to bad-mouth Taurus, I am just describing how I would think, if I was in US.


I cannot argue with your logic....makes perfect sense to me. I may think differently than most because I have access to parts and I do a good bit of gun work myself.

I don't think you are bad-mouthing Taurus...they are what they are. They have a terrible reputation in the customer service area. In my situation though, I don't let that stop me from buying their product.....in particular the PT1911 which appears to be a decent gun for the money.

[JKD COBRA]

Well, this is certainly a first! Ignore the level of customer service? It's the first time I hear someone saying that. So you do not mind if your car breaks down one month after you bought it and the service station is in Alaska, while you are in Texas? Of if your brand new 40" TV stops working one week after you buy it? And there is no service for that brand?

Sorry, I have to disagree with you.
No no no, thats not what I am saying at all. I should have been more clear in my post, that is my fault. Customer service is a very important part of business. All I was saying is that from reading his post in this thread and some of his other posts it seems like he is quick to say "I don't like Taurus anymore, forget them."

My only point is you should do as much research as you can and learn as much as you can about the product you want to buy. And after you are confident in the product because you have found that it has proven to be a reliable and a good quality; getting stuck on hold the first time you call the company shouldn't make you forget everything you have learned so far and just say "whatever, I don't like this pistol anymore."

With that said, if we find out that after people get their PT1911 back from Taurus that it still does not work and we find out that their staff is not able to reliably fix their pistols then that is a different story. That is a serious problem that should affect your decision making on what pistol to buy. I just don't think being put on hold for a while is a big enough concern to make someone go with another brand.

[razr]

Seems like I have had this conversation before. That explains the flash backs!!!!

Customer service is exactly that "customer service". As long as you pay for bad service, you get exactly that "bad service". You pay for junk, you get junk.

Your job as a supplier or manufacturer DOES NOT END when the product is out the back door. Support your customers and they will follow you and your products, in a competetive market such as ours there are too many other options to choose from, we all know that. Unless ofcourse your are satisfied with the growth of your business or youre the ONLY one in that business.

[gottripletsNC]

I can see both sides of the discussion, with the 1911 having alot of interchangeable parts between the differing manufacturers, and being able to get parts wouldn't be that big an issue, however, I have to say that customer service to me makes the deal, especially when talking about 1911s. Sure if I break a small part, I can order one, but what if I get a lemon gun that seems to have nothing but problems, that I can't straighten out, or is gonna cost me out the wazoo to repair. I don't want to buy a 500 dollar gun, then turn around and have to spend 300 to fix it. I had a Taurus some years ago, and I broke it, it was plainly my fault. I called Taurus, and they had me send it in, and it was fixed no questions asked, and shipped back. Problem was, I never heard from them, only the one time on the phone, and that was a chore in itself. Now take Ivan for example, he will talk to you on here, don't even need to call him, and he doesn't much ask questions, I have seen more than one thread where he has said "send it to me, I'll straighten it out." That is above and beyond, which tells me that he wants to do right, and cares about his customers. Thats the inherent human nature that endears people, and also keeps customers even when the price maybe higher. I'll pay more for a product if I can get the customer service.
I've spec'ed several firetrucks for my fire department, and the general consensus of us on the committee is that we would rather have a truck that breaks down periodically but can be fixed than one that only breaks down every so often, but can't get service done on it. Usability and serviceability are more important in the long run to me at least.

[JKD COBRA]

Well said Brian.

[dbadcraig]

Many companies are short sighted when it comes to the areas of hiring personnel and training and instead focus on the products and marketing (the bottom line). Somewhere along the way they forget the human beings that work for them and purchase from them. Let's face it, as customers we collectively put the "mom and pops" out of business and in search of the best price we promote the production (and profit the sellers) of "Dixie Cups" made in (not the United States). I plead guilty.

Check out this forum and you will find that other makers have really good customer service, some much better than Taurus. To be fair, my experience with Taurus wasn't that bad several years ago when I sent in a revolver that was out of time, they fixed it, but they were slow and they were not good communicators. It sounds like things haven't improved much over the years. It is nice to know that a company stands behind their products, and I think it fair to say Taurus does that and with a lifetime warranty. Are they fast and friendly?...probably an area of much needed improvement.

On the other hand, Taurus generally builds a pretty solid product by all accounts. Using the sliding scale of value, I would rather run the risk of slow; less than friendly customer support for a firearm I purchased if I would rarely, if ever need it because the firearm was rock solid and well built in the first place. You will find better customer support by some makers (or importers), but then for good reason, their products, while perhaps very inexpensive, often fail with great regularity and if it were not for an attitude of "I'll make it right" they would soon go out of business.

It is no fun having to box these things up and send them in and in the case of firearms where some folks are depending on them (high stakes) to work correctly, that is the least of their worries. No matter how right, pleasant and fast the company handles the problem- when it doesn't work right, it is a problem. Great customer support is no substitute for making the firearm right the first time. Reading some of the glowing accounts on this forum in praise of company "X's" customer support, there are certain makes of pistols I would not consider buying. If someone is looking for a pen pal, then more power to them.

The real magic happens when a company builds a very solid product, backs it for life, prices it fairly and stands behind it in a fast and friendly manner.

I made the mistake of slamming Taurus in another thread for not doing enough for their customers and shooting sports, only to learn from another member that Taurus had been giving away free NRA memberships with every gun purchased (I think that promotion ends this year). So it seems like they have the right idea in their marketing department-that promotion couldn't have been cheap. I doubt it would cost them very much to hire some nice folks and enough of them to handle their customer relations and service. Is anyone from Taurus listening? I doubt it.