These folks are awful, they have opinion on them split right down the middle, love em/hate em, I am…read moresquarely in the latter group, and what follows is exactly why!
I sent them a brand new 92A1 slide which a local gunsmith had ruined the finish on(cosmetically only)and contracted them to apply what they call their "Dusk" plating too. Dusk is simply another in a long line of attempts to darken nickle plating, with the Dusk itself very likely a nickle/boron nitride plating finish. The darkening treatment(not ever disclosed or disclaimed by Mary prior to application)is strictly a surface trick, which instantly compromises itself upon routine use!
I sent them my slide and offered to pay a premium in addition to the cost for expedited service, they said no, but they also did act upon the request to expedite, all seemed well, at first! 8-days after shipping them my slide I called and inquired as to its status, done she said, shipping today, great says I, shoot me a tracking number. None ever came, nor did my slide show up on successive days when it should have if shipped as stated by Mary!
Finally, four days into waiting for what was supposed to be a priority shipped return I call again, and this time she's much shorter with me, its coming tomorrow(Saturday), again no tracking number sent! It shows up Saturday, and upon initial inspection all looks fine, finish is attractive, I install the slide on the frame and work it for several minutes by hand, all appears well, I head out into thew back yard to test fire the firearm.
I load just three magazines(60-rounds)and run them through the Beretta, instantly a large, half dollar sized ugly blemish materializes on the forward underside of the slide(where the guide rod is). This blemish is a combo of ugly white, shatter pattern(think a cracked windshield)and smudge, nothing like it looked like just 240 seconds before, and its glaring and obvious!
Thus I stop, and immediately break down the pistol and closely inspect the slide, internally the rails are a long, hit and miss pattern of dark and shiny white, at some points it appears substrate is poking through! I send them an email expressing my disappointment, accompanied by photos, I make it clear to them I expected better, and that if any damage is permanent its on them, mostly I want it fixed! I send it back to them, on my dime!
What I got from them is exactly what you would expect from a disreputable mom & pop operation, the wear is normal they say to the rails, its just the nickle shining itself up, which by the way is a result they never once disclosed or disclaimed in advertising the finish. I ask them what about the ugly incontrovertible blemish to the slide? Normal wear they say, normal wear? They refuse to fix it, the warm fuzzy old gal is now fully out of the closet, she's offended she says by me, by my email, and by my cheek for expecting better for my $175.00, she hangs the phone up on me, she still has my valuable property in hand!
I am a professional photographer, I have photos of the half dollar sized defect they refused to address, however I no longer want them touching anything, they are clearly incompetent, or simply malicious. At no point was I even remotely rude to this fraud, you contract for a professional service you expect a professional service, that is certainly not what I received. I still await the return of my property, which they collected a fee for to refinish professionally, I have prepared legal action against them in the event any other mischief has been effected, I will be shipping the slide off to APW/Cogan where Bob will remove their defective Dusk and replace it with hard chrome.
I challenge CCR right here to a little debate, and I will take that challenge to any internet gun board they so wish to and post all of the emails, and photos I have, their business will dry up swiftly when folks see what they did, and how they justified it, refusing to refund, replate, or even apologize for the colossal waste of my time and the material loss of my money.
Indeed I consider their Dusk finish to be a fraudulent product and one open to a serious legal challenge as nothing about its instantaneous loss of continuity(darkening)is disclaimed or disclosed on their web page, she had numerous opportunities to advise me of this flaw and failed to do so, further, the defect forward on the slide is an obvious defect, it contains shatter pattern diffusing of the plating, a result of just three magazines of ammo being run through the pistol, there isn't another plating firm in the United States, not one, who would consider that acceptable!
