A few months ago I happily purchased a Beretta 96 STEEL-I. Several weeks later I began to see problems. The gun began to jam after firing about 4 magazines. It seemed like as soon as the pistol got hot enough, and the steel expanded, there was much friction. It got to the point where I had a live round in the chamber, or a misfire, and I had to fight the slide to extract it. The slide would not return to it's proper position after firing. The trigger bar also had a habit of jamming as well, preventing me from taking a shot.

I brought the gun back to my dealer's in-house gunsmith, who said that instead of taking it all apart it would be a much better idea to just send the gun back to Beretta and NOT void the warranty, which is what we did. When I got the gun back, I noticed several changes. The barrel was bent significantly to the left, there were scratches on the frame and barrel. The jamming problem persisted, so via my dealer, I sent the gun back. This time I enclosed a letter outlining all of the deficiencies, and telling them that I will refuse further repair, and will only settle for a replacement piece. My dealer's in-house gunsmith concluded that there is more than likely a defect in construction. After the repair, during cleaning, I noticed that certain parts, like the spring bolt, and the slide, didn't slide in properly, causing wear.

Beretta, second time around, claimed that they had finally repaired all the deficiencies. By that time I had already called them to remind them that I'm not accepting repairs, and that my dealer would refuse to accept it unless it was a new piece. In fact, Beretta had called the gunsmith to follow up, and he confirm with them that in fact, a defect existed, and a replacement was warranted. This was over a month ago. At this point, Beretta still has my gun, which they claim is being evaluated, and on top of everything else, they were shut down for a week which means, as shelly explained it ot me, that they are severely bakced up with work. It might take another month for them to consider a replacement, even though much of the damage was made by their techs. I was told that I might get some new information if I call back in a week.

Has this ever happened to anyone before? Beretta's standing as a quality gunmaker has really deteriorated in my eyes. I think that this will be my first and last Beretta firearm. It was a problem from the get-go.

Regards,
Viking

Sounds like a bad deal viking. I've never dealt with Beretta, but I can understand service taking a while. I also understand your frustration. I've been on fixing end of things and sometimes if your backed up it can be frustrating to customers, but I'd sure followup with the call as suggested.

Beretta produces a high end product and I'd sure remind whom ever you talk to of that fact and that you'd like to talk to the person in charge of the repair facility to find out exactly what's going on.

Good luck buddy.

I have to say, with the exception of Ruger, my experiences with factory repairwork is that it is typically slow. The two times I have had revolvers worked on by their makers, though, what I got back was worth a long wait. Custom gunsmiths also tend to be backed up and to take their time. I think it is an inherent problem in the shooting sports that many gun owners are regular guys, not well-heeled enough to pay experts what their time would be worth in an industrial environment. As a result, the trade can't attract enough people without day jobs to keep up with demand. Lots of labor-of-love work is done out there.

I don't want to sound like I'm taking their side - in fact I'm a strong advocate for consumer rights, but there is nothing in their warranty as far as I know that says that they will replace the product, only repair it.

Filing a complaint with the BBB or calling the CEO's office (aka "turbo"ing) generally will get you a quick response. BBB is ultimately optional for the company against which the complaint is filed, however most companies will make an effort to answer complaints via that route.

You may also have some luck trying to contact the following people

Mr J Edward Conners, Jr (Customer Service Manager)
Mr. Carlton A. Nether (Repair Coordinator)

I don't want to sound like I'm taking their side - in fact I'm a strong advocate for consumer rights, but there is nothing in their warranty as far as I know that says that they will replace the product, only repair it.

Believe I have seen many warranties use the expression: "Repair or replace at the manufacturers option." However, when the customer requests a replacement it is given some serious consideration. Made the request for a replacement when I purchased my last new firearm and the manufacturer DID honor it. Only drawback was my State charged me to re-register the firearm in their system.

I had a problem with a new revolver from S&W.

Long story short, they put a new frame and re-stamped the same Serial Number as the defective frame. Most that I could tell, they swapped the rest of the parts from the other frame. Gun is OK now.

So, Beretta could do that repair, as well...