BenelliUSA

I recently called Benelli customer service in regards to a brand new m4 and the reason was due to cerakote Missing where the sling attaches. It's a small spot but I have waited years to be able to buy this shotgun so it bothers me. I visually inspected what I could when I picked it up at Bass Pro when I picked it up but it wasn't in a obvious spot unless you were looking unusually hard. The gentleman on the phone kept insisting it was bass pro and then having the gun on the racks. I assured him this gun was never assembled but once again he insisted that retailers are great at putting things back in boxes. I am someone who works retail and I can tell you no sales rep would have done this good of a job. I would think that with Benellis type of customers and the amounts we pay they would listen and not try to immediately deflect blame elsewhere and listen.

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 Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because: I don't want to keep spending $70 to return a gun again that Benelli will claim as not covered under warranty again.
Regards,
[redacted]

I am sorry for the inconvenience.  May I please get your serial number of the gun so I may cover the choke tubes you are requesting under a warranty order?  Once I receive the the serial number I will process an order to ship to you.

Review: We have been an Authorized Benelli Dealer two years. We have been repeatedly lied to on numerous occasions and about multiple situations which has negatively affected our business. We were repeatedly sent merchandise that was not ordered. When we questioned the unwanted merchandise that was sent we were told by our inside sales rep ([redacted]) it was marked on out qualifying order which was taken by our outside sales rep ([redacted]). We had [redacted] give us a copy of our qualifying order when we made it and faxed a copy of that order to [redacted] who had been given an altered order that had more merchandise then we agreed to purchase. When we complained to [redacted] we were given return authorization numbers and promised we would be reimbursed for the shipping charges we had to pay to send the unwanted merchandise beck to Benelli. We faxed receipts of the shipping to [redacted] and were never reimbursed. We were later told by [redacted] that [redacted] no longer worked for Benelli and to run all orders through him ([redacted]) only.

We were warned by a previous Benelli dealer that they (Benelli) would attempt to send us all kinds of merchandise we didn’t order so their sails persons could make quotas which was the only reason we requested a copy of the qualifying order before [redacted] left.

When we were “granted” a Benelli dealership we were told that Benelli restricts the number of dealers in an area so dealers do not in direct competition with another dealers. Another local firearm shop had a Benelli dealership but lost it due to nonpayment of bills, so we were told by [redacted].

We were granted the Benelli Dealership around October and were told by [redacted] we had to complete the entire order by the end of the year in December. Twice we have made yearly qualification orders in a three month time frame and when I questioned a random dealer service operator I was informed since we started our contract In October we had till the next October to fill the orders but according to [redacted] all items had to be ordered before the end of December. So again someone is lying.

We were also told Benelli strictly enforces Minimum Advertising Prices (MAP) and that large dealers like [redacted] must sell at full Manufactures Suggested Retain Price (MSRP). We found numerous dealers advertising at below map prices and that retailers like [redacted] always seal at MAP instead of MSRP and when we questioned it we were told our sales rep are in charge of enforcing this and we were told [redacted] would look into it, nothing was ever done.

We have also more recently had damaged merchandise sent to us and when we called Benelli they wanted us to ship the merchandise back to them for repair. We requested they sent a prepaid shipping label because they never paid for the shipping charges last time. We were told they would sent a shipping label and it never arrived and the damaged merchandise is still sitting in the back of our shop.

Now we have been informed that the other shop who two years ago was an Authorized Dealer is now again selling Benelli’s and Benelli’s own web site confirms they are an Authorized Dealer. When we question our Rep, [redacted] told us that this shop is NOT an authorized dealer and must of purchased their inventory from a third party and not through him and stated that the Benelli web site is not current and that if they are listed it is because they were never removed from the list from 2 years ago. I again called a random dealer service operator and was informed that [redacted], our inside sales rep had not quit or been fired, and that he never left Benelli and has always been our inside rep all this time despite what we had been told by [redacted]. I was also informed that Benelli’s web site is current and the other business which is located less than 5 miles from our own is an authorized Benelli dealer and is direct competition with us.

We have contacted Benelli at least three times in the last two years about the deceptive business practices and every time we complain we are told that Benelli lets their sales rep police themselves and are told our complaints will be given to the head of the sales rep but every time we then get a call from [redacted] who denies any knowledge of anything wrong.Desired Settlement: Benelli needs to adopt a policy for complaints and actually follow up on them. They also need to have someone with some authority start calling all the dealers and ask how they have been treated by their sales representative.

They can also start keeping their word about how many dealers they will let into an area and not have that be the decision of the salesman who make a commission off of his sales.

Business

Response:

Please see attached document which is cummulative information from the several parties involved with this complaint.

Also, could you please change the contact email address to [redacted] in place of the [redacted] as she no longer holds a position that will be reponding to these.

We appreciate the flexibility on response time due to complexity of the complaint which contains information that was very vague without alot of detail for follow up such as names for individuals who were spoken to and given certain information.

Consumer

Response:

[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the response. If no reason is received your complaint will be closed Administratively Resolved]

Review: [redacted]

I am rejecting this response because:

Review: I purchased a Benelli shotgun and as soon as I started using it, the gun would jam when cycling shells. This was happening an extremely high number of times roughly 33% of shots fired. I contacted Benelli and was told to return the gun and it would be fixed and returned to me in 3-4 months. I did not have an other gun to use for the rest of the hunting season so I waited until the end of the hunting season and returned the gun. At the start of the next hunting season the gun continued to jam, however not quite as frequently. I contacted Benelli and again was told to return the gun. I again waited to the end of the season and returned the gun. Yet again at the started of the third season the jamming issues continued, but less frequently. Again I contacted Benelli and again at the end of the season I returned the gun. After that the gun still jammed more than it should, but I was tired of spending money on shipping in order to return the gun and tired of dealing with the less than helpful customer service at Benelli. A couple of years later the action of the shotgun became stuck shut with a live shell in the chamber. This resulted in a dangerous situation where myself and a friend had to pull the gun apart using all of our strength with a round in the chamber. I contacted Benelli and was told to return the gun. I refused and continued to ask for managers that could find me a solution without returning the gun. After hours on the phone they finally agreed to send me the parts to replace the broken ones. I have asked Benelli many times to just get me a gun that works properly whether they fix mine or get me a new one. I have been told that all they can do is have me continue to return the gun. Benelli is known for making extremely reliable problem free firearms. I believe that the gun I was sold is just a lemon and I am frustrated that I never got what I paid for. I believe that I have been very reasonable in this matter and that I have given Benelli more than enough opportunities to resolve the issue. Recently the gun has been malfunctioning worse than ever. All I want is a gun that works with only minimal problems or if Benelli can not do that my money back so that I can buy a shotgun from a different maker. Benelli products are expensive compared to competitor products and I thought I was spending the extra money to get a higher quality product and avoid problems.Desired Settlement: I want a shotgun that works the way Benelli advertises that the will work..

Business

Response:

In researching the history of this gun, I do see where the gun was sent in once for service the first week of March 2006 and the gun shipped back to **. [redacted] the first week of June 2006. I do not show a record of the second time sent in as referred to. We have record of a return number issued a second time in December of 2008 but that was cancelled when he requested the parts to be sent on December 18 2008. those parts shipped on 12-23-2008. The next record we show are the identical parts orderd on November 22, 2013 and they shipped on 11-26-13.

Though the series of events do not match completely, we do want every Benelli customer to be completely satisfied with their purchase. We have no problem working towards desired outcome for **. [redacted]. In order to replace the gun or offer money back, the gun does need to be in our possession before doing so. At this point we can offer a label to have the gun shipped back to us at which point we will review the cause of malfunction and communciate direct with consumer regarding these options. Our turnaround time is only running about 2-3 weeks right now as opposed to the previous experience of a few months.

I look forward to hearing back so we can work towards consumer satisfaction.

Consumer

Response:

[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the response. If no reason is received your complaint will be closed Administratively Resolved]

Review: [redacted]

I am rejecting this response because: I find it strange and I don't understand why they don't have records of the gun been sent back to them three times. I sent it back each of the first three years I had the gun. They say that they will help resolved the issue, but I have sent the gun back 3 times and each time the gun was returned it worked better, but never properly. Their answer is always just return the gun to them. Each time I return the gun it is at my cost, eventually it is cheaper to just buy a new gun. If I just keep returning the gun and I get it back and it still doesn't work properly and I send it back, where does this cycle end? I don't understand what is wrong with the gun that everytime they have had the gun, it doesn't get properly fixed. I will send the gun back, so I guess I am not completely rejecting their response. But what happens if I get the gun back and it still doesn't function properly? Am I supposed to just keep sending back and paying for the shipping charges? I do want answers to these questions before I send the gun back again. This cycle creates the problem that I only use the gun during hunting season, so that is when I find out it is not working properly. So, I send it back and it is returned 3 months later after hunting season and I wait roughly six more months before I use the gun again. This is not fair and I think I have gone way beyond what I should have had to do. As I stated in the original complaint, after I had received the gun back from the third return it worked well enough that it wasn't worth the hassle of dealing with Benelli to keep sending it back. This year I have been having many problems with the gun which is why I am extremely frustrated with the situation again. It brings back all of the aggravation and wasted time of dealing with this in the past. I did recently receive parts from Benelli to replace parts that broke. The same parts that broke in 2008, at which time I refused to send the gun back again. I tried to take the gun to an independent gunsmith to see if he could find the problems with the gun, but Benelli would not even sell him the parts to fix the gun. I spent many hours on the phone before someone finally agreed to give me a different solution than sending the gun back, which was sending me the parts and letting me fix it myself.

Regards,

Business

Response:

I have opened up an RA# (work order) for the the gun to be evaluated. That reference number is [redacted]. An email has been sent to the [redacted] that contains a printable label to utilize for the shipping of the firearm back to Benelli USA. No charges will be incurred for that. Upon receipt of the firearm, it will be evaluated and I would like to be able to call the consumer with options or findings at that time.