Customer service experience with Benelli or Browning??

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kpkiefer

Member
I'm looking to pick up a new goose gun in the next couple months. Looking to either the SBE 2 or the Maxus. Anyone ever dealt with their CS?? I wouldn't expect problems with either model but you never know. I've heard Benelli can be hard to deal with, but Browning doesn't even have a written warranty and repairs are made at their discretion.

I'm not looking for model comparisons, but I am looking to go with a company that stands behind their stuff.
 
Browning treated me O.K. when I bought a used gun that had problems. It was due to the previous owner though, so I couldn't expect Browning to cover it. They did sell me a replacement 'at cost' , as much as one could ask for.

I stopped by their Arnold, MO facility near St Louis.
 
I can speak from first hand experience with each company once each..Browning took care of me as I expected. It was not a Maxus I had trouble with but I have owned a Maxus and it is a fine gun. I got talked out of mine for a custom rifle.... they knew my weakness.
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Benelli CS is as bad as I have experienced and I no longer buy their brand.
 
I have no Benellis, but have been treated real well by Browning a couple times when I needed support. My next shotgun will be a new A5.
 
I needed a new forearm and stock for my Cordoba and called Benelli. The only thing wrong was the finish was coming off. No questions asked. They shipped the new stock and forearm. It was done timely and with no frustration at all.
 
I have two Benelli semi autos and two Beretta O/U shotguns. Both are now under the same customer service roof, but I have never needed to contact them. The one time I needed help from Browning they fixed me right up at no cost to me. For what it is worth...
 
It's been quite a while but I bought a Benelli SBE and had a number of problems with it right away. One was the design, the safety was on the back end of the trigger guard and when I fired the gun it cut into my finger to where the bone was actually exposed. The following year they fixed the problem by moving the safety.

The biggest problem was that the gun patterned 1 1/2 ft low and 1 1/2 ft to the left. When I called Benelli USA they suggested that I buy some after market chokes not of their making. They refused to even look at the gun. A guy asked me to sell him the gun, at a loss, because he wanted to rebarrel it and make some kind of tactical shotgun for competitive shooting so I sold it and bought a Browning Gold Hunter. This was my second Browning. My first was a BT99 trap gun. I couldn't say what Browning's customer service is like because I've never had a problem with their products.
 
Browning crapped on me for over a year on a warranty barrel on a new A5. I live near the warranty/repair facility and after 9 or 10 months of waiting I paid them a visit and listened as the manager of the facility lied about the status of the replacement barrel. I found out what the truth was with regards to the replacement and paid them another visit a few weeks later. The same manager was asked again what the situation was with the barrel and he got pretty snippy over the question, until I told him that I had uncovered the truth of the matter. There was some serious back peddling going on in his office right about then. I discovered they had been putting those barrels on guns and selling them rather than honoring their warranty obligations. I know, who would have ever guessed they would do something like that? They ended up replacing the gun, but not until a year had gone by and loosing me as a customer forever. I've never bought another Browning product and never will. YMMV
 
Had a problem with a new Benelli product and sent it in for warranty work. Very unhappy with the CS. Ditched the gun and went back to the SX2.
 
Brownings rude and unhelpful CS representatives is the reason I will never buy another browning product. I loved my maxus but had some minor issues with it and after dealing with their condescending reps on several occasions they have swayed me away from that company forever. I also have a buddy who runs a shooting school and gets several new Brownings every year on a special program for him to use at his school. I think he has had warranty issues with each of the guns he has been given, some of which are high end double guns and other models.

Remington gets trashed all over the net for their issues and it's amazing to me based on what I see that browning is able to maintain any dignity at all and not get trashed more than remmy.

But I digress, sorry for the rant. Now having said that my 3 Benelli shotguns have never needed service. I'm no fanboy of any gun maker, and own guns from about every major manufacturer and still have some older browning, but never again on a new model.
 
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