Posted: 2/13/2017 8:47:56 PM EDT
| I have a G30s with around 500-600 rounds through it and is about 8 months old. The tip of the firing pin broke off at the range Friday. I verified by removing the striker assembly from the slide and visually inspecting. I promptly emailed Glock C/S Friday evening and supplied all of the necessary info. Today I received an email stating that I needed a Certified Glock Armorer to call and order the firing pin for me...or I could send the pistol in and they would repair it. Attached was the Service Request forms...no Pre-Paid Shipping label. I have sent one other pistol in for repair and they sent the Pre-Paid label on my 2nd request...no problem. Today...not the case. I was informed that "We do not send Call Tags for pistols that old". 8 months or so...still under fucking warranty!! Are you kidding me?? I gave it some thought...and then I sent a nasty email. I have had 2 new Glocks break...under warranty...in the last year and a half. Not very impressive,and then the shitty C/S for their product...I believe I am done with this manufacturer. I have been a loyal Glock Owner and Proponent to other shooters over the last 15+ years. I think this Company has taken a wrong turn. There are other pistols out there that are superior in my opinion. Just thought I would share my experience and wait to see the responses. |
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I don't think the customer service end of this belongs in a tech forum, but anyway.
Glock ain't saints. They had problem with some defective frame rails. They initially contacted leo agencies and said they would recall and repair. However they said they would not repair civilian guns. Glocktalk set off enough of a shitstorm that they buckled and agreed to fix all the guns. |
| Broken gun is a confidence killer. I only have 3 older Glocks before they changed the steel treatment, finish, and went with MIM firing pins. I also bought enough of the older small parts to completely rebuild one. Hope you get it fixed, and have better luck with it. |
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Seems strange. I'm around folks shooting Glocks on a weekly basis. I have never seen a broken firing pin as you describe. What kind of ammunition are you shooting? Does it have primers made of concrete?
I'd just drop the $50 on the parts and fix it in 5 minutes myself rather than dealing with sending a pistol back. If I was really pissed I might try to get Glock to send the part out at a discounted price. |
| They said they won't ship one unless an Armorer orders it. I would have sent it back on their dime just to spend their money to fix it. Ammunition was Freedom Munitions Reman,of which I have fired several hundred in various guns without issue. I understand things break...but I expect a company to stand behind their product. I just kinda wrote them off now and ordered a complete striker kit from Lone Wolf. They will ship one to me with no hassle whatsoever. The only thing I can think is that Glock fees that the firing pin is a liability issue. Whatever...last Glock purchase for me...just on principal alone. |
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Seems strange. I'm around folks shooting Glocks on a weekly basis. I have never seen a broken firing pin as you describe. What kind of ammunition are you shooting? Does it have primers made of concrete? . The change to mim strikers has been viewed as a bad thing by many people. Glocktalk has some folks there that can attest to this happening more frequently after the change to mim. |
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Just buy a new firing pin from glockparts. The beauty of these are that simple is easy to work on. Shit happens - get spares. This. Not a big deal. I am a Glock fan partly because parts are easily obtained and they are so easy to work on. I am a guy who by no means could be considered a "gunsmith" by any stretch of the imagination. 
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The change to mim strikers has been viewed as a bad thing by many people. Glocktalk has some folks there that can attest to this happening more frequently after the change to mim. The aversion to MIM is similar to some people's aversion to polymer/plastic. It came about during the early stages of the process/material when it was used improperly to cut costs too much. There's nothing inherent about MIM that says parts made with it will be prone to breakage. Good MIM is perfectly fine. There's no reason to think Glock does MIM poorly. Does an occasional bad part sneak past QC? I'm sure it does, then again I'm sure it did before MIM too. I suspect the reason you hear more about the new parts breaking is due to the proliferation of the internet and specifically gun forums, and the rise in gun ownership. Once people heard about MIM (which has been used in some low end pistols with poor QC) they started blaming everything on it. Sort of like how this person is using remanufactured ammo and your first instinct is to blame the MIM striker. I've talked to quite a few people who used Glocks in the 80's and 90's and had a pretty poor overall view of them due to parts breakages. Since the internet wasn't around then, it's just something they remember instead of posting on a message board for all the world to see. People see one or two defense trainers talking about their gen 2 glock with 500,000 rounds of +P down the barrel without so much as a barrel swab, and assume that used to be the norm. |
| What I am most confused about is why they wont just send the part. They offered it for free if an Armorer calls it in. It is STILL under warranty. I offered to send pictures and return the failed part. Should not be this difficult. If they just paid to ship it I would. Seems very petty and not necessary to me. |
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What I am most confused about is why they wont just send the part. They offered it for free if an Armorer calls it in. It is STILL under warranty. I offered to send pictures and return the failed part. Should not be this difficult. If they just paid to ship it I would. Seems very petty and not necessary to me. That's their policy with everything beyond field stripped parts. They don't encourage unofficial armorers to tinker around inside their guns. As far as I know they've always been that way. I think the idea is they want an experienced person "fixing" their guns. If something goes wrong, they want to make sure the cause is found and fixed so it doesn't happen again or maybe create a dangerous situation. It may seem obvious what's wrong to you, but for all you know there could be something else in there messed up. For example an overcharge in the ammo damaged the striker safety too or something. Maybe you don't notice, and have an ND that kills someone. Now you have a gun "repaired under warranty" from Glock that killed someone because it wasn't fixed right. It's sort of like how a car company isn't just going to send you a new major mechanical part if something goes wrong in your still-under-warranty car, they're going to make you bring it to the dealership so they can ensure it's installed properly, even if you could probably install it. If you happen to live 100 miles away from the nearest dealership, sucks for you. |
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Send the stripped slide in to get night sights installed for $57 including returned shipping. It will be returned to you with night sights, and all new internals INCLUDING a firing pin. This Did it three time will all 3 of mine... Free parts sort of fo the win. 
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| I understand the liability aspect to a degree. I guess to me it's more of the condescending tone in their reply. Never took the time to explain their position on the policy. Telling me the pistol was too old to ship back on their dime was enough to push me over the edge. I appreciate all the replies and have learned something new. Maybe I will need some new sights in the future. For now I am off the Glock wagon. Doesn't mean I will be getting rid of what I have...just nothing new that lines their pockets. The new internals with the sights is just a win-win all the way around. |
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I can understand Glock's policy about not sending internal parts to gun owners, who are not Glock certified armorers. It's kind of a standard policy in many industries.
Not exactly the same thing here, but I've serviced my own household appliances for years. Have lots of electro-mechanical, plumbing, and HVAC formal training and 30 years of experience at the engineering level. Yet, when my Amana gas range needed a hot surface igniter for the oven, which was still under warranty, although the labor warranty had expired, I called Amana and asked if they'd send me the igniter for the oven and they said no, because I was not an authorized Amana appliance repair technician, although my skill level was much higher and then some. Not exactly apples to apples, but the same principle, I suppose. I paid $40 for a new hot-surface oven igniter, installed it and went on about my business using my gas range oven (the service call alone for an authorized Amana appliance repair tech would have been much more, even with the warrantied part). However, I'll never purchase another Amana appliance again, just because; so, I know how you feel. Â Â |
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Glock's CS has been hit-or-miss for years. Way back in 1994, when I bought my very early G21, it had to go back to Glock to have the slide milled as part of an "upgrade", Glock-speak for Recall. They flatly refused to pay shipping, no matter who I talked to. That was when UPS and FedEx had started making handguns go overnight air and before some of the less expensive options, so I had to pay $75.00 shipping. Sucks, but they wouldn't warranty the gun without the "upgrade".
About a year after I got the G21 back, the nickle finish on the firing pin safety plunger started faking badly, to the point that it would occasionally stick in the up position in the slide. Glock refused to send me parts, even though I was a certified armorer, and told me the only option was to send it in and that they would not pay shipping. I refused to spend another $75.00, so I detail stripped the gun and buffed the plunger with steel wool. All the loose plating flaked off and I reinstalled it and have never had another issue with it. A few years after that, we had a part time Officer start at the PD I work for. His personally owned gun was a G23. Serial number started with "E" and it was one of those effected by the recall for the slide rails in the frame breaking. They flatly refused to do anything until one of the rails broke, saying that they "usually worked" with a broken rail. "Usually works" isn't something you want to hear when you may have to use the gun at a moment's notice to defend yourself or others, cop or not. I bitched, then my Chief called and bitched and they finally agreed to replace the frame after the Chief told them that, unless they replaced the frame, we wouldn't permit Glocks as duty guns anymore. The owner had to pay shipping, though, because they flatly refused to pay, even though it was a well known issue and a faulty part. He didn't know any better, though, and was happy that it had been done. A couple years ago, I bought a 3rd Gen G19 that had bad Brass to Face. Glock had come up with the new ejector upgrade and I am (still) a certified armorer, so I called Glock to have them send me one. The Tech I spoke to flatly refused to send an ejector, even though I am an armorer. He refused to look up my credentials and verify my status and told me that I could either mail them a copy of my certificate along with a request for the part and they would consider sending it or send the whole gun back, and no, they would not pay shipping under any circumstances, even for a 2 week old gun. I asked to speak to his supervisor and he, reluctantly, agreed to look up my credentials and, when he confirmed them, he told me that they would mail one and hung up on me. It took 2 weeks to get the part. Luckily the new ejector fixed my problems. I have only had 2 good experiences with Glock's CS. In the late '90's, we had a guy start working at the PD I work for and he was carrying his own personally owned 1st Gen G17. It had the old black parts that Glock had replaced in the early '90's as part of what they called the "6 part upgrade". I was an armorer, so I called and spoke to a very nice lady and ordered the upgrade kit. No problems, all she wanted was the serial number of the gun, which I gave her. The parts came in a few days later, I installed them and sent in the postcard they sent with the parts to verify that the gun had been upgraded. Very good experience, that time. The other was when one of our guys suffered a case head separation with some cheap ammo in his Gen4 G22. The extractor blew out. I had a spare and replaced it and got him running again. I had an armorer's recert class a couple of months later and , when I told the regional rep what happened, he dug into his spare parts and got me 2 of everything in the extraction system, no questions asked. Based on my experiences with Glock's CS, I highly doubt I will but another new one. In my experience, they don't want to take care of guns with issues and, even though I jump through their hoops to (allegedly) have access to factory replacement parts, they refuse to acknowledge that I jumped through their hoops and send me the damn parts. The first armorer's recert I took after the move to MIM parts, the instructor admitted that they started using MIM parts to cut costs. He admitted that they were having problems because of it and, because of the tips breaking off of MIM firing pins, they now recommend snap caps for dry firing in excess of what is necessary to field strip the gun. He pretty much admitted that it is cheaper for them to replace the occasional broken MIM parts than it was to make them right in the first place because most users don't use the gun enough to really stress it enough to break them in the first place. Kinda shitty way to do business. Bub75 |
| Good story, bub75. I guess what makes it worse for me,is that my first C/S experience was great. They paid to ship my G29SF back after it developed a problem. The slide would over-travel to the rear and jam after about 30 rounds. They replaced the entire pistol and shipped it back in about a week. Now this bullshit over a firing pin. Unacceptable to me. |
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Glock's CS has been hit-or-miss for years. A few years after that, we had a part time Officer start at the PD I work for. His personally owned gun was a G23. Serial number started with "E" and it was one of those effected by the recall for the slide rails in the frame breaking. They flatly refused to do anything until one of the rails broke, saying that they "usually worked" with a broken rail. "Usually works" isn't something you want to hear when you may have to use the gun at a moment's notice to defend yourself or others, cop or not. I bitched, then my Chief called and bitched and they finally agreed to replace the frame after the Chief told them that, unless they replaced the frame, we wouldn't permit Glocks as duty guns anymore. The owner had to pay shipping, though, because they flatly refused to pay, even though it was a well known issue and a faulty part. He didn't know any better, though, and was happy that it had been done. Bub75 Interesting... I had a G22 that was part of the slide rail breakage... (actually both rear rails broke off mine). I called Glock, told them what happened, they sent me a pre-paid shipping label, I boxed it up and shipped it in. Came back about 2 weeks later with a new frame. Honestly, that's the only experience I've had with Glock Customer Service. |
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It would be handy to know how to DIY in case the internet goes down. Quoted:
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Just buy a new firing pin from glockparts. The beauty of these are that simple is easy to work on. Shit happens - get spares. It would be handy to know how to DIY in case the internet goes down. How do you not know how to work on a glock? |
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The only experience I have had with Glock customer service is at GSSF matches. They bring everything but the slide, barrel and frame to fix any issue you may be having. IMHO, they have interest in supporting Glock shooters and are willing to keep them running at their best at no cost. It must cost them nearly $2000.00 to send and armorer to a northwest GSSF match.
I have never had to use the GSSF Armorer, except to look at battering on a slide. They completely disassembled and cleaned my pistol and returned it to me with new springs. The battering was normal wear in their opinion. Several thousand rounds later, the battering marks are still there and have not gotten worse. |