Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Poor SIG Sauer customer service experience

I bought my SIG P220 Equinox, and put about 600 rounds through it, with failures to feed or extract about once per 100 rounds.  I sent it back to SIG and they polished the feed ramp and changed the extractor, and did their action enhancement package and short reset trigger (AEP and SRT) at my request, which I paid for.  Reliability seemed to be improved, with about one malfunction in another 500 rounds.

I bought the .22LR conversion kit for the P220 when it was on sale last holiday season.  From the start it had numerous failures, about 3 out of every 10 shots, with all different kinds of ammo.  I eventually sent it back(the .22LR upper with the P220 frame).  After 8 weeks I finally heard back: my frame was out of spec so it couldn't be repaired, and they wanted to send me a new gun.  Where I live in CA, an out of state transfer on a new gun costs about 75 bucks, but they were not willing to reimburse me for the transfer fee.  They were willing to throw in two .45 ACP P220 mags instead.
When I mentioned that I had the AEP and SRT done on the old gun, he said he couldn't find any record of it in the computer system, so he couldn't authorize having it done, but then I dug up the old RMA number and he then could check the record and then he authorized it.

So I said okay, and gave them the info for the FFL to send it to, and specifically requested that they let me know when it ships and send a tracking number.

About a month goes by and I haven't heard anything so I asked my FFL if it came in.  He said yes, it had been there for two weeks.  SIG had not included any contact info with the box indicating who it was for, so the FFL had no idea who to contact to let me know it was in.  SIG had also not contacted me at all when it shipped.  It came back with a new .45 upper on it.  It came back in a different, smaller box than the factory box I sent it in.  I'm not sure if it has the AEP and SRT, the trigger pull is smooth but seems to be heavier than I remember in double action.  The reset is short but I can't remember how long it was originally to compare it to.  It did not include the .22LR conversion kit.  It did include the 2 spare .45 mags which I didn't need.

I called and asked where the .22 kit was.  The customer service rep said that I had to send in the old .45 upper and then they would send me the .22 kit.  Nobody had mentioned this to me before.  So now I'm about to send it back and wait for that.  Of course, we have no guarantees that the new gun won't have all the same plethora of problems the old gun has.   The new gun they sent me is still in its 10 day California waiting period so I have no idea what problems it may have.

So basically my impression of SIG is that their quality is terrible and their customer service is not much better.  The customer service is very disorganized and non responsive. Due to the crappy quality of their gun, which cost twice as much as a Glock btw, I've been without my gun for about 3 months, I'm out the transfer fee out of my own pocket, and I may or may not end up with a gun that runs properly, that remains to be seen.  I would be very reluctant to buy any more SIG products.

On the plus side, they always paid for shipping both ways and they do seem willing to make things right.

Update: I finally received the new .22LR conversion kit.  The barrel had some slight pitting spots that look like rust spots all over it.  When I installed it on the P220, it wouldn't return to battery at all without forcefully pushing the slide forward.  The movement of the slide felt very sticky.  This was after cleaning and lubing it.  I racked it by hand about 200 times, at which point the action was fairly smooth.  When I shot it, it was pretty reliable with CCI Mini-mags, Winchester Super-X, and Federal bulk pack.  There were some feeding problems with Wolf match ammo, but overall it's now performing as I would expect. The point of impact was a few inches above the point of aim at 7 yards, and I had to crank the adjustable rear sight down almost all the way before they were at the same point.  Overall it's now at an acceptable state where I wouldn't really complain or try to return it.

I also shot about 100 factory rounds and 50 of my reloads through the P220 .45, with no malfunctions.  I noticed that the sights were set up so that the point of impact coincides with the front sight dot, not the top edge of the front sight.  This was the same setup that the old one had, and is not to my liking but is not that big of a deal I guess.  To SIG's credit, in the end, I ended up with an apparently working gun and .22 conversion kit.