My experience with Savage customer service

[slowr1der]

I have many reasons I love my Savage rifle, the main one being that it's the most accurate rifle I own or have ever owned. It shoots .8" groups regularly at 100 yards with Federal Power Shok ammo, and similar groups with Winchester Power Points. With handloads it consistently shoots .5" or under groups at 100 yards.

That reason aside for liking this rifle, I have dealt with their customer service a few times and as recently as yesterday, and if the quality and accuracy of the rifle didn't sell me on a Savage, the customer service sure would. Let me give you the back story on this rifle. A friend bought it new 3 years ago, and I bought it second hand from him after 1 year. So I've had it for 2. The rifle had a 1 year warranty on it which had run out by the time I bought it.

Now fast forward to my experience with their CS. When I bought the rifle from a friend he had lost the accu trigger adjustment tool, so I didn't get that with it. I called Savage's customer support and explained what was going on to them and that I'd bought the rifle used without the tool. I asked if I could purchase one. Their response was to ask me what my name and address was. I gave it to them and had my credit card in hand expecting them to ask me for the number next. They then said, "we will get this out to you for no charge." I was just shocked. Sure enough within a week I had the accu trigger tool in my hands free of charge and pretty impressed.

Then fast forward to about 9 months later. I broke the plastic trigger guard when reinstalling it on the stock. Well, didn't break completely, but cracked it. I called their customer support line once more and asked about another trigger guard. You guessed it, "we will send one out to you at no charge". Keep in mind this was almost a year after the warranty had run out.

Then, the next thing I had happen was the recoil pad ripped a month or so later. This rifle has one of the P.A.D. recoil pads on it that is super soft, and I will admit that I'm fairly hard on this rifle. This rifle has done a lot of riding in the truck on the farm, being banged around in the woods, etc. So it's not that this soft recoil pad was bad, just that it didn't jive well with the way I was using it. I called them up once more and told them I knew it was out of warranty and needed to see about getting a replacement. They replied, that they would either fix or replace it if I sent it in. Being that it was the middle of hunting season I asked them if I could wait until the season was over. They told me of course. So after hunting season I paid the $2 in shipping to ship it to them. I received back a brand new recoil pad free of charge in very short order.

I shot the gun quite a bit at the range and in the field for the year during the off season. In fact, this was my go to gun and I just used it quite a bit. I even took it turkey hunting with me. I've probably put 700-800 round through it in the last 2 years, and it's been on some adventures with me through rough terrain.

So fast forward to the hunting season this year. The first day of hunting season I ripped the recoil pad once again. The corner of the pad broke off. I just kept on hunting with it as it's still very usable obviously, and shouldering it I didn't feel a difference. It just didn't look too good with the corner of the recoil bad broken off. So yesterday I got around to giving Savage a call again. I explained the issue to them, I told them I was the second owner and the gun was 2 years out of warranty. Then I explained how they had already taken care of this for me one before which I appreciated. I then asked if they was a way I could get a harder recoil pad for it? A friend has a 30-06 in the same gun and the recoil pad on it is a lot harder, like the traditional ones you'd expect to see. I expected them to tell me that I could get one of these and give me a price. Is that what they said? Nope. Their response was, "don't worry I will take care of this for you. We will get one shipped out to you at no charge."

I was shocked to say the least. They were once again sending replacing it for me, and even letting me change to the one I'd asked for. Keep in mind this was a gun out of warranty by quite a bit, and I'm not even the first owner. So they didn't even get to see a dime from me for this gun. I'm just simply amazed that they would take care of me like this especially for stuff that isn't even their fault. That's truly standing behind your product and in this day and age, this isn't all that common.

It's just hard to find this customer service, and if the accuracy and quality of the rifle hadn't sold me on them, this customer service sure did. When I buy my next rifle, Savage is going to be at the top of my list of ones to consider. I just thought this amazing gesture on their part deserved to be mentioned in public. They really took care of me, and I really appreciate it.

[ButchA]

Great story... I love Savage rifles too! I have an old 1998 Savage 110 but chambered in .308 and has a nice Bushnell 3-9x40 scope on it. I bought it a few seasons ago when I was rifle shopping. A Remington .270 was really getting my attention, but, when I picked up the old Savage 110, it just sort of "spoke" to me. It just fit perfect and said "Buy me, take me home" and that was that.

The first order of business was to get rid of the cheap POS Simmons "no-name" 3-9x32 scope and rings. I picked out some very nice steel Weaver rings and a nice Bushnell Trophy 3-9x40 scope, and got them mounted and bore sighted.

I contacted Savage too and asked about my rifle... I gave them the serial number (F7286xx) and they were so awesome, they gave me the whole rundown on the rifle in detail:

F72 --- translates to a manufacture date of September 1998.

Model 110 --- was a very very common model of all their bolt action rifles. Savage was in Chapter 11 bankruptcy back then, and had to do whatever means necessary to save money and save themselves. They used the same body style for all their bolt action rifles regardless of caliber. For short actions (.308, .243, etc...) they installed a block or something down in back of the lower chamber, behind the internal magazine box, changed the bolt, and made other slight modifications. So, in a nutshell, back in the 90's when Savage was having financial problems, you could see a Model 110 chambered in all the flavors of bolt action calibers.




Here she is... Not too bad for a 13 year old rifle. I nailed a nice buck last season and dropped him in his tracks at about 100-120 yards, while hunting up in upstate NY on my sister & brother-in-law's farm.

Also, like the original poster mentioned about Federal Premium ammo, mine loves Federal ammo too. There is just something weird about Savage rifles and Federal ammo. The two seem to be made for each other.

[GTOHunter]

I'm glad to see how well Everyone is treated by the Savage Customer Service's....hopefully I'll never have any issues with my Savage 7mm-08 but its nice to know how well they take care of You guys and their Products!

[sheldonc]

I hope to have a happy Savage customer service report here shortly. My wife bought me a Savage American Classic in 7mm-08. Beautiful gun. The problem is that thing won't shoot to save its life.
120-140 grain bullets and it shoots aweful. About 4" is about the best it will do and most times it is 6" or wider. I should have an answer today or tomorrow on what they find.

[Vapodog]

If they made a good rifle then the customer service isn't that big a deal.....for Savage it is!