Author Topic: Buy Taurus at your own risk, customer service is a joke, quality has gone down (Read 3978 times)

Reed1911 · « **on:** July 31, 2007, 07:55:49 AM »

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Okay, I'm ticked and I'm going to shout it to everyone I know. Taurus has flat out lied to me and jerked me around like a child. Little background, we used to sell about 10-15 Taurus guns a month, not a lot but enough. Ever since this little problem I've pulled them and returned the ones that I could to the Dist. house. I told this to Taurus and they could give a crap less, not exactly those words but close enough, really! So my stance is now that I cannot sell Taurus products to my customers and lie to them telling them they are good guns and if anything goes wrong it will be fixed.

Here we go, I got a .41 Mag Tracker in and the crown was totally off center and there was a gouge in the barrel. Called Taurus and asked for a call tag to have it picked up and repaired, they tell me no I'd have to ship it in and send a copy of the invoice and they would refund me the amount. Sent it in and called to fax the invoice in, then they say "No, we usually send call tags" Wait a frigging minute! You told me last week that you didn't do that! "I'm sorry sir, you must have misunderstood" Misunderstood hell YOU LIED!!!!

Okay, I wait the needed eight weeks, get it back with a target and a service order showing "NO PROBLEM FOUND"
HUH?! How blind can they be?! So I call to complain and am told that I'd have to speak to Robert the service manager, he's not in and I have to leave a message and the gal told me she'd also give him a written message; he should be back in about a half-hour. Okay, so I wait a few hours, no call. Try to call him back, still not in. Okay, so I wait all Friday, all Monday, and half of today Tuesday. Call again, and get Richard, he won't transfer me to him but takes all the info and tells me that there is no record of my S/H invoice and no notes in the file. I tell him about our new policy about not selling Taurus due to this incident and we are awaiting it to be cleared up. Silence......"well sir that is your business" Well forget you too! Ask to speak to Robert (service manager) nope, he's too busy I'm told.
So here we are now, they are sending a call tag and I'll update you all on the progress of this little situation. But my position is, if as a dealer we cannot get a brand new gun that was defective from the factory fixed, how can a guy that has something broken get his fixed? What kind of crappy service will he receive? They obviously don;t care about the customers and it looks like the quality is going back to how it was in the '80's and early '90's.

His lordship. · « **Reply #1 on:** July 31, 2007, 08:08:44 AM »

What baffles me is that dealers still sell them, and people still buy them. I had 4 Taurus handguns bought in the late 90's, they worked, accurate, but cylinders were out of time, soft steel, etc. Sold them.

Didn't Taurus have a warranty manager a few years ago that was mismanaging the whole situation with returns and hurting the company's image? Is he still there? That could be the problem.

Dusty Miller · « **Reply #2 on:** July 31, 2007, 01:15:37 PM »

It'll catch up to them, especially with Ruger back'n their guns to the hilt. What goes around comes around and Taurus will either clean up their act in a hurry of they'll be out of business.

jcn59 · « **Reply #3 on:** July 31, 2007, 01:54:38 PM »

Do what I did.

DIRECT YOUR COMPLAINT TO THE FLORIDA ATTORNEY GENERAL.

Worked for me.

Heavy C · « **Reply #4 on:** July 31, 2007, 03:32:33 PM »

Hey Ron,

Hate to see you having to endure this kind of crap considering the quality operation you run. It's bad enough when the average Joe gets ripped off, but when they are doing that to folks that help them move their "product" well that's another matter. I think JCN59's idea of contacting the Florida Attorney General is a great idea. It's time for someone to hold their feet to the fire. I own one Tracker in 45 ACP. It works great and consider myself lucky. I won't buy another - too many horror stories out there.

There's a bunch of threads about the bad experiences of folks here at GBO. Best of luck on getting this resolved - keep us posted!

Chuck

Mikey · « **Reply #5 on:** August 01, 2007, 01:03:11 AM »

Hmmmm, sounds like the Brits went and bought out Taurus and installed their quality control programs. Mikey.

dw06 · « **Reply #6 on:** August 01, 2007, 10:38:20 AM »

That is poor quality control,should have never left factory in that condition!And to top it off to jerk a dealer around,and worst of all insult him by lying,not good business practice.It will get them in the end!

Ken ONeill · « **Reply #7 on:** August 02, 2007, 01:07:13 AM »

Without meaning to cast aspersions at those who have them and like them, I can very happily report that I have never owned a Taurus...and decided long ago that I never will.

Graybeard · « **Reply #8 on:** August 02, 2007, 05:18:10 AM »

That would be a real WISE decision on your part Ken. I on the other hand have owned several and I must admit at one time they were putting out some really fine guns. But that time seems long passed now and I'm not sure if they ever really honored that "supposed" life time warranty or not. So far the RBs seem to still be sound guns with few problems but the rest of the line sure aren't the same from my experience. I no longer own any and likely won't and to me that's a shame as they do have some very innovative products and I'd really like to own some revolvers with those innovations but I reckon I'll have to wait on someone else to produce them.

oldandslow · « **Reply #9 on:** August 02, 2007, 05:52:54 AM »

Guess I'm lucky. I have a Gaucho and a 92 9mm and both work just like they are supposed to. After reading about all the problems and the warranty that is evidently a joke I don't think I am going to buy another.

IMshooter · « **Reply #10 on:** August 02, 2007, 09:57:37 AM »

I owned a Taurus revolver that shaved lead and had lousy accuracy. It turns out the chamber mouths on the cylinder measured .360 instead of .357. I sent the gun back to Taurus with a letter explaining the problem and they replaced the barrel. Guess what? It still did not work right. So I sold it to a fellow who will never shoot more than a couple boxes of shells through it.

Lesson learned.

warrior1 · « **Reply #11 on:** August 02, 2007, 12:59:58 PM »

wow ,that's just unbelievable they would jerk around a dealer. something tells me that it's time to get to the senior level of management,if you still get the same results,then quit buying em. i've been lucky, with the four i got ,
but until i hear something more positive from taurus ,i' not buy another.

jcn59 · « **Reply #12 on:** August 02, 2007, 05:58:05 PM »

I have a 6" .44 blue Taurus that has a way better finish than my S&W 29 Classic & it's a good shooter +. No probs except it took months and a letter to the FL Attorney General to get a replacement rear sight for it. Also a 6"SS .218 Bee Tracker that is quite accurate with no probs. These are both beautiful guns & I'm glad I have them. A friend has a 8" .17 HMR SS Tracker that is quite accurate & no probs. He also has a 8" SS .44 that he is happy with. I had a blue 445 that locked up in DA for a while but stopped later & functioned fine again.

Graybeard · « **Reply #13 on:** August 02, 2007, 06:41:34 PM »

Quote from: warrior1 on August 02, 2007, 12:59:58 PM

wow ,that's just unbelievable they would jerk around a dealer. something tells me that it's time to get to the senior level of management,if you still get the same results,then quit buying em. i've been lucky, with the four i got ,
but until i hear something more positive from taurus ,i' not buy another.

Senior management IS THE PROBLEM.

Lloyd Smale · « **Reply #14 on:** August 05, 2007, 01:23:22 AM »

I feel for you as any gun is a mechanical devise and will something will eventually break or wear out if you shoot it enough but the true test of a gun is how well the company who sold it will back it and in my opinion tarrus is at the bottom of the heap in that reguard.

williamlayton · « **Reply #15 on:** August 05, 2007, 02:55:29 AM »

Never owned one, never had a thought about owning one.
They never had a reputation, in this neck of the woods, for anything near quality.
Blessings

Dice · « **Reply #16 on:** August 08, 2007, 11:40:03 AM »

Sorry to hear you had such a problem with Taurus. I'm sure there's two sides to this story.

Are you getting the gun from a distributor? If so, I would have had the distributor take care of it.

Anyways, I'm no gun expert, but my 608/4" seems like a really nice gun of high quality. Love that 8 wheel.

TBS, I've only shot about 2K through it, half .357. With only one problem ,the screw for the release came lose once. I glued it with clear coat.

Did I mention I love my Taurus? Love my S&W, Luger too. And my Rossi 461 is OK too.

Cabin4 · « **Reply #17 on:** August 08, 2007, 12:11:07 PM »

Quote from: Graybeard on August 02, 2007, 06:41:34 PM

Quote from: warrior1 on August 02, 2007, 12:59:58 PM
wow ,that's just unbelievable they would jerk around a dealer. something tells me that it's time to get to the senior level of management,if you still get the same results,then quit buying em. i've been lucky, with the four i got ,
but until i hear something more positive from taurus ,i' not buy another.

Senior management IS THE PROBLEM.

How do we know Senior Management is the problem? Until they are given an opportunity to address this, we won't know.

Graybeard · « **Reply #18 on:** August 08, 2007, 01:01:41 PM »

In FL there is a top dog senior manager I'm not sure his exact job title. Below him there is a guy in charge of Customer Service, another in charge of warranty repairs and one over ware housing and shipping.

The guy over CS is a nice guy he really is and wants to do right by their customers. The guy over repairs tho wants to keep their operating costs at a minimum. My guess would be he gets paid a bonus annually based on how well he keeps that cost down but that is only a guess. The guy in warehousing and shipping is the single most knowledgeable guy they have from I can tell from talking to all of them.

Now the head honcho talks to no one but the managers below him. He is SENIOR MANAGEMENT. He listens ONLY to the guy in repair not the guy in CS PERIOD. He flat does not care what happens after the sale. His only concern seems to be shipping them out and keeping repair costs down.

He has had a chance in fact he has been having chances since the quality went to pot and they refuse to honor their warranty but he's not stepped up to do anything.

You do what you want with your money but I'll spend mine elsewhere and continue to recommend others do as well unless and until they get their act together. I used to be their strongest supporter on the internet back when they were doing it right and could be again IF they were doing it right but they are not.

Cabin4 · « **Reply #19 on:** August 08, 2007, 04:57:33 PM »

All I'm saying is in this specific circumstance, he should address the issue by directly contacting/writing to senior management at Taurus. He already has the gun and wants it fixed. Everything you say about their operation in general could be perfectly on target. You know them better than I do or ever will. Years ago you were their biggest supporter and I was then, always have been and always will continue to be cautious of Taurus or any foriegn owned&operated company in this industry. Just go back and search on my posts back over the years.

I'm talking about this broken gun and how to try and get it fixed, your talking about Taurus CS in general.

Want GREAT CS, buy a Kimber.

S.B. · « **Reply #20 on:** August 15, 2007, 12:55:54 AM »

Your learning what I learned, several years back?

warrior1 · « **Reply #21 on:** August 15, 2007, 01:54:17 AM »

i'm back in on this unfortunate subject. i want to reirerate that i have 4 taurus' and each has performed as
they are supposed to. to clear up another point ,when i refer to senior management, i'm not talking about the monkey in fl.,i'm referring to the policy makers. if the ceo in brazil is not awhere of what's happening in fla.
how can he address the isssues,or better yet ,correct the problem.

i say you get to that person you get action.I'm sure taurus realizes the market potential in the u.s.,and he is going to make whatever moves necessary to ensure they maintain a good share of that market.

i'll probably buy another taurus in the future if taurus responds the way i think they will.

heck , colt's current owners advocate gun control,that's one reason they have gone thru three ceo's
since they purchased colt's assets. if you think i'm blowing steam google colt.dan

S.B. · « **Reply #22 on:** August 15, 2007, 02:28:13 PM »

warrior1, I suppose you drive a Japanese automobile, also and buy your gas at BP stations? Please wait a minute, before you reply, while I put on my flak jacket.

Cabin4 · « **Reply #23 on:** August 15, 2007, 06:15:50 PM »

Quote from: S.B. on August 15, 2007, 02:28:13 PM

I suppose you drive a Japanese automobile, also and buy your gas at BP stations? Please wait a minute, before you reply, while I put on my flak jacket.

Who?

warrior1 · « **Reply #24 on:** August 16, 2007, 01:41:14 AM »

sb, get off the american made kick,i had a chrysler with a jap engine,then a dodge with a jap engine ,a ford p/u with a german engine and a jap clutch.but ,what does any of that matter, tell me how your last statement relates to the taurus problem.
my last statement outlines how to get some action on an existing problem,and if after pursuing that course of action
and the results are less than satisfactory,then it won't be long and taurus will close up shop in this country. have a good day sb.

ps sb did you have a chance to google colt .

S.B. · « **Reply #25 on:** August 16, 2007, 11:03:41 AM »

They are produced in a foreign country. The money goes to a foreign corporation. By the way, American made Chevys are easy to spot, they have a 1 for their first digit of their VIN number?

warrior1 · « **Reply #26 on:** August 16, 2007, 02:04:49 PM »

them chevys are probably built by parts from mexico, the pontiac vibe is a toyota. walk around your house
you probably do not realize how many foreign products are in your daily life. but again,what does this line of thought by you have to do with the taurus question? did you google colt? now if you want to carry on about american made products email me at drd5050@aol.com. and i'll challenge you even more on this endless subject.

S.B. · « **Reply #27 on:** August 16, 2007, 03:38:47 PM »

I know there is no changing your mind but, if things are so great with global economy why is the American economy in such bad condition? No. I won't email you privately. I don't think there is much middle ground, in your thinking? In my earlier post all I meant was you are of a corporate mind set!

Cabin4 · « **Reply #28 on:** August 16, 2007, 04:13:54 PM »

If its an American company then most if not all the R&D, Engineering, Sales, Finance and other Operational & I.T. support is based in the USA. Don't worry about the fact that the product is "made" in another country. Its still an American product, designed and concived by Americans. Just becasue the low paying manufacturing jobs are out-sourced is not a reason to abanden American companies. Most or many josbs are still here. If you abandon them because they out-source the manufacturing, your manking it worse. American companies out-source becasue they have no choice. Its done to keep pace with the competitive tension in their respective industries worldwide.

warrior1 · « **Reply #29 on:** August 16, 2007, 05:26:14 PM »

sb, i wil not even comment on such an idiotic statement.