As I've been looking at handguns I've come across several bad reviews/reports of S&W pistols specifically. Not all of them, but enough of them where I would purchase other manufacturers pistols first at this time.
Their revolvers on the other hand don't seem to have any bad comments aside from not handling the hotter loads that Rugers can over a large number of rounds.
As with anything, you just need to do the homework before buying any gun first, and then make an informed purchase. Let's face it, all of the major manufacturers have had their ups and downs over the years. S&W still makes a lot of quality guns, and as long as they continue to respond and improve their overall QC for some of their product lines, then they will re-take the any market-share they have lost.