Recently purchased a Zenith Z-5RS with intent of filing a Form 1.  Weapon came as described and I couldn't be happier.  Zenith is another company that gives its buyers what they pay for and then some.  Weapon came with a cleaning kit, three magazines (MP-5 magazines are NOT cheap), a sling, as well as an optics mount.

Bravo Company send its buyers posters, decals, and ball caps.

However, if you purchase a new SIG Sauer pistol, it may come in a cardboard box.  I can imagine that a plastic generic case costs the good people at SIG Sauer that much.  They kept the prices up, but something as simple as packaging cheaper in an effort to save a dollar.  

Not that packaging and accessories will make or break a great or garbage firearm.  But, anyone else have any experiences with any companies that "step it up" and go above and beyond it's competitors or the other way around.

I had a Hornady factory load rupture on the chamber. I contacted Hornady they had me send them the box of ammo as well as the ruptured case. They then paid for the repair of the rifle and sent some swag as well as a case of ammo and a letter and phone call from the president of the company to apologize and make sure no one was hurt. They made a lifelong customer out of me after that.

An exceptional response on their part.



 

Something like included magazines and cleaning kit aren't free. It's in the price, you paid for them. Glad it helps they were included though.

BCM and Larue's SWAG... you're paying for that too. Both have great marketing strategies, but you are paying for that. Even the Dillo dust and bottle openers, the BCM hats and stickers, etc. Do you really WANT to pay for that stuff? I personally don't.

Above and beyond is how I recently whined to a company for high shipping on a small part. There are now FIVE free ones on the way, shipped free. Five for kinda a good reason, but not completely; yet they were more than willing with the nature of my issue. Yet it also took a lot of understanding of how I felt about the issue. THAT is good CS.

HORRIBLE CS is when a product burns up in a house fire and the company replaces it for free. The Bushnell Elite line, for example. It gets included in the cost of the item that X amount of people are predicted to return it for stupid reasons not normally covered. I don't want to pay for someone's scope burning up in their house fire, or a camp fire so they can get a new one to sell NIB.

Springfield. I stripped the screw threads on the 1911 frame. They just fixed it.

Vortex Optics has a lifetime no questions asked replacement policy on all of their optics.  They are also great with customer service with support issues.

The shit you mentioned... Yeah you paid for that. Sorry, a manufacturer is not going to eat close to $100 worth of shit to sell a gun. You paid for it. Getting freeb's makes goons feel happy.

Same reason why DPMS includes two magazines when everyone else includes one or none. Makes you have sweet happy feels

So far in my experiences:

LaRue - and not only for the swag. He stepped up and sent me stuff to replace a mistake I had made and trusted me to send in the wrong parts(s). And just the generally great CS.
S&W - The warranty dept treated me very well and pitched in some non-warranty labor gratis.
Surefire - not a firearms manufacturer, but still relevant.
Glock - Send in your gun for a tune-up and you'll get hooked up.
Andro Corp - has been very responsive and demonstrated great CS.


And......... the EE here !!

Cheers!
-JC

Dan's Ammo.  I have dealt with Dan Tobin for... near 20 years?  Bought English SA80 high caps from him during the ban for a great price, ammo out the wazzoo for wverything under the sun.  Years ago I bought a few thousand rounds of Olympic 556 from him.  It was absolute trash.  Bullets set waaay back, couldn't run three rounds in a row without a failure to feed.  So I ran some tests myself, switching out uppers amd lowers and tracking everything and wrote Dan an email.  

Dan takes back the ammo, after I had shot a couple hundred at least messing about, gave me alternate ammo (a more expensive , different caliber) at same cost, then sent my findings of testing to the manufacturer with me in bcc.  Little thinks stoking my ego?  Sure.  A standup dude who has always been straight and then some with me?  Hell yes.

DSGarms
Larue
ADM
Rainier
Vortex
Geissele
etc

Midway...had a bad shell plate.  New one in mailbox four days later

Lee Precision...had an out of spec .380 die.  New one in mailbox in a week.

Phoenix Arms...had one of their cheap HP22's.  After a few years and 5k rounds the slide cracked. Shot fine though. They sent a rsa and postage #.  I boxed it and sent back on thier dime.  New gun arrived two weeks later.

Speed Shooter Specialties







 

Adams Arms.

I built a 10.5 upper with one of their kits and had a lot of problems. I emailed them several times and they tried to coach me through everything. They finally had me send them my upper, fixed it and covered shipping both ways on their dime. Found that the gas port on the barrel was too small.

I really don't care for the "free stuff." It is literally meaningless to me.

Springfield had a 1911 promotion for two additional magazine and a free range bag. The mags it came with are runt so that's not much.

Frankly that a company replaces a broken part or services a defective gun is just what one should expect. It would be best if it never broke or was not defective to begin with.

I'll buy a gun because I like the gun. The company and crap thrown in is irrelevant. Most of the "free stuff" is useless junk.