Urgent: XDs recall...

[NordicTexan]

Somebody on the XDTalk web site said they had been told the update will happen between 2 and 3 today. I suspect it will say, "we need more time..." but hopefully not. I miss my XDS

[Teamless]

I suspect it will say, "we need more time..." but hopefully not.

Im ok with them saying "we need more time" if in this they also explain that "If we do not have the answer by xx/xx/2013, this is what we will do ......"

[NordicTexan]

As we noted in last Friday's update, our testing of potential upgrade solutions has continued and we are pleased to tell you that we have made significant progress over the last seven days. We have now identified what we believe is our final upgrade solution and throughout this coming week we will be continuing with our thorough and exhaustive testing of that solution. It's because of our commitment to your safety that we are conducting such extensive testing and we are working as fast as we can so that we can return your upgraded pistol to you.

We understand that our voluntary safety recall has made it inconvenient for you to be without your pistol, and we sincerely apologize for that. We expect to have more definitive information to share with you by Friday, October 11

hmm.... well progress is good I guess. I hope its real and not just marketing

[Teamless]

I hope its real and not just marketing

I agree, but as you and I are both Sales /Marketing guys, it sure sounds like a bunch of fluff and spin to me!

I, to be honest, would be much happier to hear "you will have your gun back in 4 months", at least I would know.
Its much like waiting for the CHL, the wait is a killer, but if you knew you would have it at X date, at least that's one less thing you have to think about.

If this drags on, I wonder when some attorney will start a class action lawsuit for refunds of costs of the gun and their accessories (is that even possible at this stage?) - any lawyers want to chime in here?

[mewalke]

From the update this afternoon:

We understand that our voluntary safety recall has made it inconvenient for you to be without your pistol, and we sincerely apologize for that. We expect to have more definitive information to share with you by Friday, October 11.

You can read the whole thing but there is nothing definitive except, "check back next Friday".

[ATDM]

I, to be honest, would be much happier to hear "you will have your gun back in 4 months", at least I would know.
Its much like waiting for the CHL, the wait is a killer, but if you knew you would have it at X date, at least that's one less thing you have to think about.

I agree. I would be a lot happier about a longer wait with a definite deadline...

As to the CHL wait, I was prepared to wait 6-8 weeks, but somehow it took them only 18 days from the online application to the arrival of it in the mail! I was shocked when I checked the online status back then and read that it was processed already. I even called them to make sure... The government did something faster than promised. Wonders never cease...

[OrangeAnimal]

Still waiting to here why it was doing this to start with.

The update was just to keep the public from getting rowdy lol. They had to say something since they already claimed that they would update the situation. I may call them just to see if I can actually speak with a real person since I have yet to send mine in.

[ATDM]

For anyone, interested to hear the SA CEO regarding the recall, here is the link:

DENNY REESE himself on the Radio Show Gun Talk 10-06-2013 on the XD-S RECALL:

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[Teamless]

On October 4, I sent an email to Springfield Recall Contact point from the recall website.
The email is below.
Today, surprisingly, I received a reply - below my email

The XDs recall, while was / is an inconvenience, the biggest issue I have is that an original estimate was given for the repair, without SA actually knowing how to fix the issue.

With this lack of knowledge, and with lack of information on SA’s websites, that leaves all of us gun owners to only speculate that we are looking at months if not years to get our weapons back.

SA needs to seriously consider how they are going to retain customers at this point.
I don’t mean to say having a recall will cause loss of a lot of customers, but the information coming out of SA is the issue.
Communication is key and communicating real information and not misleading your customers especially!
While SA may not ‘think’ they have mislead their customers (me!), they have by the careful wording of their recall notice information and especially with respect to turn around time.

I have owned 2 XD 9 sub compacts as well as 1 XDs .45.
My relatives have owned various SA weapons, including XDs .45’s and XDMs.

We all know a number of other gun owners as it is still a relatively small community VS the population of the USA, and we are all talking and influencing each other on future weapon purchases.

SA needs to get in front of this, and make this right, come out with REAL information, even if it is unpleasant. You will do yourselves more harm by continuing down this path.

If you do come forth with what may be considered an excessively long recall turnaround time, you will get many requests for SA refunding all monies spent on the XDs including accessories (extra magazines and holsters).
Yes, I know the holsters are not necessary SA issued or sold, and most if not all are aftermarket, but they can be quite expensive and as each holster (Kydex anyway) is made to fit a specific weapon, if the XDs is no longer available, then the holsters for it, are no longer useful.
In my case, I have spent an addition about $125 for XDs accessories, including 2 extra mags (1 extended, 1 standard) as well as Leather/Kydex Hybrid holster from Whitehat Holsters.
My weapon cost about $550 + 8.25% tax, or about $596 + $125 in accessories = $720

If SA is expecting to do a buyback and they do not buy back or reimburse for the accessories, then that also will put off many SA customers and again, will cause SA to lose business for a long time to come.

If SA is not going to do a buyback for all gun and accessories to do with the XDs, then SA should seriously consider how they will reimburse for lost time, aggravation and to basically buy their customer support back, with possibly coupon for x% off weapon, or accessories, etc.

If I remember right, the # of XDs that are in the recall are about 186,000.
At an approximate MSRP of $550 per weapon (assuming all were the same type), that is a huge about of money to reimburse, (over $100 million just for the weapons, not counting accessories).
But that is a drop in the bucket to the years of lost sales that will come from this badly handled recall.

I would guess that since I own 10 handguns and buy a new handgun every 6 months or so, and I know several people who buy at least 1 gun per year, by word of mouth alone, when people ask what to get, SA will not be the first or second recommendation to come out, and we will influence millions of people essentially over the next several years.

Treat us right, make this situation right, and try to save Springfield Armory.

Treat us wrong, do not fix this situation, and Springfield Armory may as well close the doors, or at least plan to lose 50 % of its market share.

I would appreciate an email back, but knowing you are probably getting thousands of emails per day.
But again, communication is key, treat us right is also paramount, so an email back probably would not be a bad idea!

Respectfully, yet perturbed,

Rick,
We do apologize for the inconvenience and the fact that you feel you have been mislead. Springfield has always prided itself on its outstanding customer service. We did feel that the original solution for the recall would take the 30 days turnaround time as first estimated and therefore our original quote. At this time we are endurance testing the final solution and we will have another update by Friday afternoon. We will be sending emails and text messages if you opt in for them with updates as well as posting them on the web site as we are trying to make sure all customers are well informed with any new developments.

In regards to a refund or buy back, at this time we believe that everyone will be very satisfied with the upgrade once returned so neither of these options are available. Our customers are still our main concern as always even though it might not seem that way at the moment. We are working diligently to finalize the testing so that we can start returning everyone’s XD-S models. We do appreciate your input and please do know that it has not gone unheard and that we appreciate your support very much!

I had not realized, or seen, they had a Text message update system, so i just went on the SpringfieldRecall website and saw this on the bottom

To receive updates by text message, text XDS to 25827

[ATDM]

Our customers are still our main concern as always even though it might not seem that way at the moment. We are working diligently to finalize the testing so that we can start returning everyone’s XD-S models.

Thanks for posting this. I still haven't lost trust in SA, although in the quote above they are contradicting their own Customer Service, whose representative stated: "We would rather have unhappy customers than lawsuits due to injury or death." While I am sure that is true, there are so many better ways of conveying that message than to state they prefer to have "unhappy customers" to something worse.

We'll wait and see. This Friday's update will be decisive. Unless they inform us of something definitive, they will get a lot more "unhappy customers."

I still haven't lost hope in a quick (-ish) resolution. SA has great products, and I am very patient. However, my patience is not infinite.

[lrpettit]

I am definitely starting to get aggravated. When you have an XDS a lot of people ask how well you like it and my current response will not lead someone to purchase a Springfield product. Once I have my XDS back that may change but the longer they have to keep it the more negative my recommendation is likely to become and the less likely I am to change my opinion later. If I would have known that they didn't even know how to fix it, I would not have sent it back. That was a serious misrepresentation (through omission) in my opinion.

[Teamless]

New info just updated on http://www.springfieldrecall.com/RecallUpdate.asp" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

XD-S™ Upgrade Testing Very Near Completion

We last updated this site Friday, October 4, with the good news that we have found what we believe is the final solution for the XD-S™ upgrade and that we would be continuing exhaustive testing through the week.

We are very pleased to let you know that a large majority of the testing is complete and is going extremely well. We believe we are very close to being able to give our valued customers more specific information about when they can expect their XD-S™ pistols to be returned to them.

We will update this site again on Friday, October 11 and fully expect that we will have more great news to share. We are making final arrangements for upgrading the pistols that our customers returned to us.

In the meantime, please accept our heartfelt thanks for your patience, loyalty and support of Springfield Armory®. We remain fully committed to resolving this recall as quickly as possible and we are confident that you will be extremely pleased with your upgraded 3.3 XD-S™.

[ATDM]

New info just updated on http://www.springfieldrecall.com/RecallUpdate.asp" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Same words, same info. The only thing that's changed is the word order. Also, they really come across very excited about something...

[Sangiovese]

If I would have known that they didn't even know how to fix it, I would not have sent it back.

[ATDM]

I've been in contact with a friend, who spoke on the phone with Denny Reese.

So far, all the signs point to a positive update tomorrow afternoon.

Can't wait to get my XD-S back. My other guns are full size, so I've really missed my little gun!