5Wire, I distinctly remember reading on the 1911.org site a guy posting about the paint finish coming off his Para on the first range trip or two. He said that he called the Para service facility in TN and they initially told him that his type of finish wear was normal and they wouldn't warranty it. I also recall several more people posting about the poor Para painted finish. I don't recall the outcome of the thread, whether or not he got the slide refinished, but I do recall that he WASN'T happy, to say the least. I just spent 2 hours there, going back 50 pages on the Para subforum, without finding it.
I then went to the Para subforum at the 1911forums.com site and read about some less than complimentary threads about Para's service being deleted at 1911.org? I dunno, but I clearly remember reading about the Para finish issues and the Para service center in TN not wanting to handle it and now I can't find it. Coincidence? Again, I dunno. Also, on the 1911forums.com site, there is at least one person posting that they had their account deleted at 1911.org for posting less than complimentary things about Para service. There are also quite a few threads at the 1911forums.com site about poor finishes and poor customer service by the Para facility in TN- guns coming back unrepaired, calls and e-mails not returned, poor attitudes by people answering the phones there and so on and so on.
Also, based on posts both at 1911.org and 1911forums.com, George Wedge is no longer affiliated with Para's customer service and, reportedly, CS has suffered because of this. True or not, I don't know, but this is what I have read in posts at both sites.
I realize that every company can put out a lemon from time to time, especially in this day and age, when they are having trouble keeping up with the demand from the panic buying after the Obama election. It's not just how a company builds a gun, it's how they handle issues with the gun if they crop up. For example, when I first started in LE, I carried a Sig 226, which ws bought brand new by me. After about 1500 rds, it developed issues- FTFs, FTEs, hard trigger pulls and massive finish issues. I called Sig and got such poor customer service from them that I will never buy another Sig gun. Their attitude was about like I hear you get from HK- we make a superior product, if you are having problems it must be something you did to your gun, if you ship it back we will charge you X number of dollars just to look at it and determine if it is a warranty problem and so on and so on. They all but came out and said, "You suck and we hate you". Never again. The gun might have been a lemon but, based on their poor CS, I will NEVER AGAIN own a Sig product.
I don't have a dog in this fight since I don't own any Para guns and have no plans on owning any. I responded because I_Like_Pie seems like a good guy and I hate to see anyone buying a gun that they later regret because of lack of info. If you have the info and decide to buy anyway, well, that's your problem. If you have had good CS from Para, good for you. If you have never had a bad gun from Para, good for you. I_Like_Pie asked, so I told him what I had read, nothing more, nothing less. Like I posted, for myself, based on all the complaints about poor Para finishes and the apparent poor resolutions to the issues, and by extension Para CS in general, I'd skip Para. If your opinion is different, good for you.
Bub