Bracken Guns Don't Stand Behind the Guns They Sell
I purchased a berretta 92A1 from Bracken Guns. My wife and I also took concealed carry class from them, which was excellent.
I had talked to the salesman about the 92A1 threaded barrel and was told it was used for upgrades, etc. Everything was good. They were friendly, etc.
About 4 months later (May 2021), I went to berretta.com and decided to purchase a muzzle brake for the 92A1 to reduce recoil. I purchased a muzzle brake that would fit all their threaded barrel 9mm's. After the muzzle brake arrived, it didn't fit the barrel. I called berretta.com and spoke to their support. They told me, "it should fit". You may want to purchase the muzzle brake that was designed specifically for the 92 series. So, I returned the purchased muzzle brake and bought the muzzle brake specifically for the 92 series. It arrived, and it didn't fit. I called back berretta.com and spoke to one of their support staff. The individual then transferred me to another senior support staff. I was told by the support personnel at Berretta, that Berretta (USA) had experienced a huge backlog for US guns during COVID. The Italian arm of the company (parent) decided to send Italian versions of the gun to the US to make up for the backlog. I was told by the support staff that I it wouldn't fit, and none of the muzzle brakes for the Berretta would fit because the threaded barrel was metric. He said these guns originally were never meant to be sold in the US. I asked if I would be able to purchased an Italian version of the muzzle brake, and he told me that Berretta (Italy) doesn't export any Italian parts outside of the EU.
After doing exhaustive research on the issue, I found out, If I wanted to spend a lot of money to rectify it, I had one of two choices:
1) Send it to a qualified Gunsmith recommended online to have the barrel rethreaded.
2) Replace the barrel with a US barrel and several other parts that wouldn't fit with the US barrel unless they were also replaced.
Next, I went to the Berretta (Italian) website and tried to order the Italian muzzle brake for the 92 series. Immediately an Italian support staff started a chat session with me and told me I was on the Italian website. I needed to go to the US website. I explained my problem with the metric barrel and the muzzle brake orders. She told me that Berretta (Italy) was not allowed by EU law to send parts to the US. They said my only recourse was to take the gun back to the vendor that sold it and have them (Bracken Guns) replace the gun. The next step would be for Bracken Guns to deal with Berretta US directly to get it resolved.
So, September 3rd, I arrived back at Bracken Guns and told them (two support staff) I had a problem with my purchase. I explained the whole thing, along with what Berretta told me to do. I was told that the owners were away, but they would call them. The Bracken Gun staff member went back out of the room with my receipt and called the owners. The staff member came back and told me I could return the gun for a refund, but they would charge me a 25% restocking fee. I told them that I was not going to get charged a 25% restocking fee (179.00). I wanted a complete refund. Then, as Berretta said, they should go back to Berretta US to resolve the issue. The staff member said that with the restocking fee was the only way that they would give a refund. I told them that they needed to stand behind the guns they sell. Why would I buy a gun with a threaded barrel that I couldn't upgrade? They told me, I didn't tell them I was planning on upgrading it. First of all, neither one of them sold the gun to me, so they wouldn't know what I said or didn't say. I said to the staff members, when I bought the gun, I was assuming that Bracken Guns were the gun experts. They told me, we don't claim to be gun experts. We only sell guns because we have an FFL license.
Enough said. Any future purchases I make of firearms, I want to go to a place that stands behind the products they sell. Also, I want to go to someone that knows about the guns, not just someone who has an FFL license.
I will never buy another product from Bracken Guns, nor recommend them to anyone.
Thanks,
Bill G. read more