My Worst Newbie Mistake: Buying a Taurus

Being a newbie, in any field, means you're going to make a number of newbie mistakes. I plan to inaugurate this blog by exploring several of the worst errors I've made during my first six months as a gun owner. Hopefully, this information will help other new gun owners avoid making the same mistakes I have.

Today, I'm going to focus on the worst error I've made so far: buying a Taurus revolver. (A 605 "Protector Poly", to be exact.)

It's easy to see why I was susceptible to the hype that Taurus had turned things around. For starters, some of the commentators I had trusted said they'd turned things around. Then there's the economics of it all: Taurus offers a budget product, and a series of auto and home repair expenses forced me into the budget market. Finally, I'm the kind of person who roots for the underdog. So, I had both practical and psychological incentives to see them as a valid option.

Alas, I have come to believe they are not a valid option.

Not if you want a firearm that will last one thousand rounds. Not if you want your gun returned from repair in a reasonable amount of time. Not if you want coupon codes that actually work. The junkie running your local Dollar General provides better customer service than anyone on the Taurus payroll.

Do I sound bitter?

Maybe I am. But I think it's justified. Double action revolvers are notoriously challenging to new shooters, but I had finally gotten the knack of it. Moreover, after sampling an exhaustive array of options, I had settled on my carry ammo. And then, one night, as I was unloading the gun and gently cleaning a stain off the muzzle end of the cylinder, the ejector rod just sort of...fell apart in my hands. I was able to retrieve most of the parts, but not all of them.

A gunsmith informed me that Taurus pretty much never makes individual parts available for customers to repair their firearms themselves. Thus, the gun had to be sent back to the company's Bainbridge, Georgia headquarters. I walked into the FFL to return it right when they were in the middle of a big Taurus promotion.

The guy behind the counter told me that I should be prepared to wait three months to get it back. So far it's been away for about five weeks. There's a place on the Taurus website where you can enter the serial number and get the status of your repair. Mine still says "Awaiting Arrival".

Do I worry it's been lost in the mail? Nope, I suspect it's a way they fudge their statistics. If they don't report a gun as having "arrived" until a gunsmith opens the box, then they can claim they fix guns within a few weeks after "arrival". Why am I so cynical? Because other suckers report similar experiences. In one case, the customer actually received verification from the FFL that Taurus had the firearm in their possession. But the website still claimed they were "awaiting arrival".

I imagine the Taurus warranty service warehouse looking something like the warehouse at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark. My gun got wheeled in there, to get lost among the multitude of others.

And that's not the only sin against customer service these clowns have committed. Taurus includes coupons for accessories in the box when you buy a gun. Nice, right? Well, not really. The coupons don't work. Ever. And, if you email their customer service about it, you get nowhere.

For example, right before my revolver fell apart in my hands, I doubled down on the mistake by buying a Rossi RS22 rifle. (Rossi and Taurus are owned by the same parent company, both operating out of Bainbridge, Georgia. So, I include my negative Rossi experience here, too.)

The box for my RS22 included a coupon for a nice discount off of a scope. But, when I tried it, the coupon code didn't work. I emailed Rossi customer service and heard nothing for nine days.

Yes, nine days.

And, when I finally did hear back, the results were not encouraging. Here's the exact text of the email I received.

It's a great day here at Rossi, this is CaKimme, and I am here to assist you.

We were experiencing issues on our webstore. Please attempt to place your order at a later time utilizing your coupon code.

Are there any other inquiries I can assist you with?

Who answers a customer email this way? It may well be a great day there at Rossi, but I'm more concerned about my less-than-optimal day as a Rossi customer! And the vagueness of their reply! "Please attempt to place your order at a later time..."?! How much later? Nine days later? A month later? Is this customer service or the Magic 8 Ball? ("Reply Hazy. Try Again.")

Needless to say, I did try later and...it still didn't work. Eventually I gave up and got another scope.

Having been burned by giving Taurus a chance, I have decided I will never, ever buy another gun from them. (Or Rossi, or their other company, Heritage.) I am not a glutton for punishment. Live and learn.

If you've had better experiences with them, great. I'm glad someone out there might be getting their money's worth. But to me, the rumors of Taurus's resurrection will always be nothing but bullshit.