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Test of Benelli Customer Service


Nemesis

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Guys,

 

I am the guy whose Picatinny rail flew off his Benelli during firing (I posted on this a week or so ago).

 

Just an FYI on my customer service experience......

 

After waiting 30 minutes on hold (no toll free number at Benelli) the CSR told me that rails are not covered under the warranty since they are not a "moving part." She said the best she could do was send me a new rail although she said that she could not send any screws. She told me to get screws at a hardware store....

 

I asked her about the "moving part" policy and what she would do if a receiver cracked. She thought it over and said that she thought that my case probably should be covered under warranty, so she gave me the email addy of a supervisor (she could not resolve my issue on the spot because apparently all supervisors are at the SHOT show in Vegas). I emailed him on Thursday.

 

Let's see what happens. I own a lot of high end firearms from Sig, Glock, Springfield, HS Precision, etc.. and I have never been told I cannot send a gun back when it is literally falling apart in my hands. Worse....I have never been told to just go to the hardware store for replacement parts.

 

Up to this point, my M4 has given sterling service. Reliable, easy to clean, a tack driver. I love this damn thing. I also have an M2 which I like, but not as much.

 

But if Benelli won't stand by me on this.......I am off Benelli.

 

Stay tuned....

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As I recall, you admitted possibly overtorquing the screws and not periodically checking the mounts.

If you think Benelli is supposed to do that for you, then perhaps you should go to another brand.

 

I've been on here for a while and yours is the one and only case of a rail flying off an M4, or any other model, that I can recall seeing.

 

We have other members who have fired as many rounds and more with no problems.

 

IF they sent you screw they would not fit, because you said that the receiver was stripped.

 

I've given you a link to oversized repair screws from Brownells. They should fix the stripped holes without having to redrill. You should get the tap from them as well.

 

I don't mean to give you a hard time, but I simply don't think you're being completely honest and fair in your assessment of who's to blame for what in this failure.

 

I believe abuse and neglect have played roles, and you are responsible for both of them.

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As I recall, you admitted possibly overtorquing the screws and not periodically checking the mounts.

If you think Benelli is supposed to do that for you, then perhaps you should go to another brand.

 

I've been on here for a while and yours is the one and only case of a rail flying off an M4, or any other model, that I can recall seeing.

 

We have other members who have fired as many rounds and more with no problems.

 

IF they sent you screw they would not fit, because you said that the receiver was stripped.

 

I've given you a link to oversized repair screws from Brownells. They should fix the stripped holes without having to redrill. You should get the tap from them as well.

 

I don't mean to give you a hard time, but I simply don't think you're being completely honest and fair in your assessment of who's to blame for what in this failure.

 

I believe abuse and neglect have played roles, and you are responsible for both of them.

 

Abuse and neglect? Screws were torqued to 25 pounds and red loctited--as per BENELLI. But then....CSRs often don't know what they are talking about. Sadly, the manual says nothing about proper torque or maintenance. Tis why I called Benelli in the first place.

 

This is more common than you think. Per Mesa Tactical--it is an aluminum receiver, a heavy recoiling weapon, and screws that are not all that deep. And as I said, my rangemaster sees this all the time.

 

And as I recall you came onto my thread and got into a fight with 2 other guys....

 

Tucker--what is not common is a company not standing behind its $1500 shotgun. You even said that Benelli was likely to stand behind their gun. When they didn't, you leap to their defense. You have a pattern of leaping to their defense. Do you work for them or something?

 

Thanks for your help.

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Short of beating on the gun with a sledge hammer,I dont care how you try to justify it. Any malfunction, break, or whatever should be 100% covered by the MFG for the life of the shotgun. Especially since I dropped $1500 on this sucker. I have 870s that have been beaten to **** and back, and some are 30+ years old and still dont have any stripped parts,broken bolts, or stocks falling off.

Ill be damned if im going to back a product when the company that makes it wont. Ill sell this damn thing and be in an FN SLP so fast it will make your head spin.

Mine has had no issues as of yet, but its only about 100rds old.

I will suffer ZERO ****-ups for a shotgun this expensive.One problem, and its for sale, and Ill never own another one.I simply cannot tollerate ****** customer service on top of an overpriced, inferior product.

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If I spend $65k on a Corvette, can I slam it into everything on the road, neglect maintainence and still expect it to perform properly? :rolleyes:

 

 

Absoutly not. Slamming into everything on the road is not what the car was intended for. However, if it was to scatter the rear end, gears strip in the tranny, and the clutch slip everytime you got on it a little, then yes, something is wrong, and the car was not built to withstand what it is intended for.

 

I do believe that a shotgun that has been demed for combat should be able to withstand a certian level of neglect and abust. Call me crazy, but a Semi-auto shotgun is NOT a new invention, the bugs should be worked out. Things like a bolt breaking is complete and utter garbage. That should NEVER happen. I will go as far to say that nothing should ever fail on this shotgun while under normal operations. It should be held to the same standards as any other battle weapon. Will it outlast an 870? Doubtful.

The price I paid more than justifies for quality materal, workmanship, and propper R&D time.

 

 

As far as thier customer service (or lack thereof) Ill be damned if they tell me that the rail falling off is not thier problem. What the **** is it even there for if you cant mount anything on it without fear of it failing? Is this the gun they are putting in the hands of our Marines? God help them.

 

If ANYTHING were to go wrong with any M4 variant, I would expect a FULL replacement on my doorstep within 48hours.

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Also, as a Mechanic, I would have known that 25ft lbs is WAY to excessive for such small screws going into alum.

 

But, im a mechanic, I know that. Everyone else does not. If Benelli told him to torque it to 25ft lbs, andit broke (which im sure it did) its still thier fault. Perhaps Benelli should consider having thier phone goons properly informed as to the workings of the shotgun that they are selling.

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If Benelli told him to torque it to 25ft lbs, andit broke (which im sure it did) its still thier fault. Perhaps Benelli should consider having thier phone goons properly informed as to the workings of the shotgun that they are selling.

 

Perhaps I missed it somewhere, but I never saw where he said that Benelli CS told him to torque them to 25 lbs.

 

http://www.benelliusa.com/forum/showpost.php?p=83213&postcount=16

 

Guys,

 

Just so you all know......when I got my shotgun I red loctited the rail down and torqued it to 25 pounds. I did not check the mount again for 1000 shells which was probably not good. The red loctite formed a sort of plug that just tore the screw threads out.

 

I also wonder if maybe I torqued the screws too much.....

 

I will probably call Benelli and see if they will fix. Any idea what the will say?

 

Also as an FYI......I mostly shoot low recoil slugs. I am still really surprised that this happened.

 

Thanks for all the good advice--just be nice to one another!

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There's an old saying that can be adapted to this ridiculous expectation.

 

"Expect in one hand and **** in the other. See which one fills up first"

 

 

If paying $1500+ for a shotgun that breaks parts, and requires that you hold for 30min on a non-800 number to speak to a dimwitted CS rep that is going to tell you that if anything breaks, its your fault. If all this is what you require from a MFG, than your in luck.

I, however, require a bit more.

 

As far as expectations, Benelli can EXPECT me to sell thier product off the first time they raise my blood pressure and take the money and buy a different brand.

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Surfire Tech Support said hand tight and then 1/4 turn with blue loctite and i promise that is nowhere near 25 Ft Lbs,more like inch Lbs from this article, says overtorque will cause it to shear during firing if too tight really quick!

http://www.brownells.com/aspx/NS/GunTech/NewsletterArchive.aspx?p=0&t=1&i=589 interesting read on mounting and torque!

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Funny Tucker. You seem to pick a fight on every thread you get on. On the threads you keep quoting, you managed to pick a fight with 2 other guys while I was trying to solve a problem. Perhaps you should find something more constructive to do?

 

You also seem to take an affront to anyone who questions the perfection that is Benelli. Yet you seemed to bash the R1 rifle from what I recall. I guess you are the only one who can dish it out.

 

Not checking a mount that is red loctited down hardly qualified as "abuse and neglect." You start turning those screws and you break down the locktight. And the screws did not seem to come loose as in they did not twist out. As I said, the screws + locktight formed a plug that tore out of the shotgun stripping the receiver.

 

And no I did not mention that Benelli told me that 25 lbs was appropriate in my first thread. I did not mention a lot of things as this was a post in a forum and not a legal deposition. When Benelli told me 25lbs was the appropriate torque, I believed them. Interestingly, my Leupold scope mount is torqued to 25 lbs (and rings to 18lbs) as per Leupold. I trust the manufacturer, but I know that customer service often louses it up. I once called Springfield and asked if my M1A would shoot 7.62X51mm rounds. They gravely warned me that 7.62 was for AKs and that I needed to shoot .308 Winchester. I got a good laugh out of that and that is why I asked whether I had too much torque on the mount.

 

CS does not know everything, but apparently you do (and you have reached the exaulted post of computer tech because of it!). I have a few guys like you who work for me and they lack social skills too.

 

I also like your quaint quotes (which you don't quite get right) and ridiculous analogies between crashing Corvettes and not checking a rail. They are, in fact, directly comparable. Just like a kid who steps on ants is the same as an axe murderer.

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Springfield, sensing that you were ill-informed for asking the question to begin with, was doing what any smart CS would do and told you that the two should not be substituted for each other.

They were erring on the side of caution when dealing with a yahoo with a yahoo question.

 

The correct answer is that the 7.62 can be safely substitued for the .308, but the opposite is not always true.

 

But then, being the expert who likes to call CS with questions to which you already know the answers, you already knew this I suppose. :rolleyes:

 

Back to Benelli.

No, you didn't mention that CS told you to torque the screws to 25 lbs in your original post. Yet the failure you've described could easily be attributed to stressed receiver threads.

 

It's kind of hard to keep up with what your current story is when you keep changing it.

 

Can I just ask you.

If you know so much about what you're doing, why do you keep calling manufacturers CS departments and asking them how to do things?

Do you understand the difference between inch pounds and foot pounds?

Have you called the CS department of the company that made your torque wrench and checked with them?

Are they clueless idiots too?

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Guest Cajunkraut

She said the best she could do was send me a new rail although she said that she could not send any screws. She told me to get screws at a hardware store....

 

I asked her about the "moving part" policy and what she would do if a receiver cracked. She thought it over and said that she thought that my case probably should be covered under warranty, so she gave me the email addy of a supervisor (she could not resolve my issue on the spot because apparently all supervisors are at the SHOT show in Vegas).

 

A hardware store?

 

Presuming this accurately depicts the conversation, this CS Rep was obviously CLUELESS. She shouldn't be answering questions that are clearly out of her area of expertise.

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Funny Tucker. You seem to pick a fight on every thread you get on. On the threads you keep quoting, you managed to pick a fight with 2 other guys while I was trying to solve a problem. Perhaps you should find something more constructive to do?

 

You also seem to take an affront to anyone who questions the perfection that is Benelli. Yet you seemed to bash the R1 rifle from what I recall. I guess you are the only one who can dish it out.

 

Not checking a mount that is red loctited down hardly qualified as "abuse and neglect." You start turning those screws and you break down the locktight. And the screws did not seem to come loose as in they did not twist out. As I said, the screws + locktight formed a plug that tore out of the shotgun stripping the receiver.

 

And no I did not mention that Benelli told me that 25 lbs was appropriate in my first thread. I did not mention a lot of things as this was a post in a forum and not a legal deposition. When Benelli told me 25lbs was the appropriate torque, I believed them. Interestingly, my Leupold scope mount is torqued to 25 lbs (and rings to 18lbs) as per Leupold. I trust the manufacturer, but I know that customer service often louses it up. I once called Springfield and asked if my M1A would shoot 7.62X51mm rounds. They gravely warned me that 7.62 was for AKs and that I needed to shoot .308 Winchester. I got a good laugh out of that and that is why I asked whether I had too much torque on the mount.

 

CS does not know everything, but apparently you do (and you have reached the exaulted post of computer tech because of it!). I have a few guys like you who work for me and they lack social skills too.

 

I also like your quaint quotes (which you don't quite get right) and ridiculous analogies between crashing Corvettes and not checking a rail. They are, in fact, directly comparable. Just like a kid who steps on ants is the same as an axe murderer.

 

Interesting reply :)

 

I've read all your posts, and you seem like a pretty decent guy. A decent guy that is used to getting your way. Probably military or ex-military. You write like many of my mil-friends. I had one DS vet friend stomp off a turkey field because he could not control the toms. You are probably the ring-leader of your group of friends and are the life of many parties.

 

But a coupla things come to mind with this particular post:

 

This is a free website provided to us by Benelli USA. They let us do whatever we want. There are no fees and few rules. They make it clear up fron that this is not a conduit (I thought conduit was metal pipe for wires) to Benelli CS. Anyone can be a member.

 

This post was pretty much 100% CS and should have stayed with Benelli CS. The SHOT Show is not even over yet. They will probably help you out, you might just have to find the right CS person. I've had dealings with just about every manu in the business. Some have gone well, some not so well.

 

I think you are dead wrong about Tucksmedicatedpads being a fight picker. Dead wrong. His value comes from his work as a whole, not an isolated post rife with confusion, edits, old post re-hashes, etc. You put up your story for review, and it got picked by some, panned by others.

 

You posted up, now deal with the replies.

 

Good luck with the repair :)

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Interesting reply :)

 

I've read all your posts, and you seem like a pretty decent guy. A decent guy that is used to getting your way. Probably military or ex-military. You write like many of my mil-friends. I had one DS vet friend stomp off a turkey field because he could not control the toms. You are probably the ring-leader of your group of friends and are the life of many parties.

 

But a coupla things come to mind with this particular post:

 

This is a free website provided to us by Benelli USA. They let us do whatever we want. There are no fees and few rules. They make it clear up fron that this is not a conduit (I thought conduit was metal pipe for wires) to Benelli CS. Anyone can be a member.

 

This post was pretty much 100% CS and should have stayed with Benelli CS. The SHOT Show is not even over yet. They will probably help you out, you might just have to find the right CS person. I've had dealings with just about every manu in the business. Some have gone well, some not so well.

 

I think you are dead wrong about Tucksmedicatedpads being a fight picker. Dead wrong. His value comes from his work as a whole, not an isolated post rife with confusion, edits, old post re-hashes, etc. You put up your story for review, and it got picked by some, panned by others.

 

You posted up, now deal with the replies.

 

Good luck with the repair :)

 

Mudhen,

 

You are right as I am ex-military. Used to getting my way......my wife would laugh at that one!

 

My post was not meant to be a conduit to Benelli CS--I actually called CS. My post was a note to share the with M4 community on Benelli CS which initially said "no" on this repair. I believe in reporting the truth--good bad or ugly. As I said, I love my Benelli (have posted to this effect) and this is the one and only issue that I have had.

 

And guess what? I actually had heard back from Benelli. They will take the shotgun back and they said that they have seen this before! Well how about that?

 

I am sure that Tucker is a nice guy and I don't like fighting online (totally pointless and borderline cowardly). But I can only stand being called incompetent so much before I have to respond!

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And guess what? I actually had heard back from Benelli. They will take the shotgun back

 

That is great to hear :)

 

I'm betting someone a bit higher up at Benelli read this post on their laptop at the SHOT Show or when they got back.

 

Good job on posting the positive (so far) results!

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