Warranty repair - Shipping

[TheElyrian]

I had to send my Beretta PX4 SC in for warranty repair (cost me 55 bucks to ship it ).

I was wondering about the shipping back to me. I'm not at home much during the day and I live in an apartment complex.

1. Does the UPS man specifically know that there's a firearm in the package?

2. If not, does he know (signature required or by some other method) to not just leave the box by the door or something similar? (I'm assuming the answer to this has to be yes)

3. Can I just schedule a pick up for a package that UPS hasn't tried to deliver yet, effectively bypassing any possible problems?


Thanks.

 

[freakshow10mm]

1 Not likely.
2 Not likely.
3 Only the shipper can do such. The recipient can't.

 

[Omaha-BeenGlockin]

You should have requested a UPS shipping label from Beretta before you sent it in.

I did that with Ruger--they e-mailing me a shipping label--I printed it off and taped it to the package. No problems and no $$ out of my pocket.

 

[TheElyrian]

lol

That'd be horrible.

"We left your 600 dollar handgun on your front step where the neighbor kids could swipe it"

I'll talk to Midwest Gunworks (people doing the warranty repair) and ask them to send it for pick-up only? That what I'd be asking for?

 

[TheElyrian]

Omaha - Apparently it's a Beretta thing. They don't pay for the shipping on warranty repairs (to them).

Had the same type of customer service from the company that made my LCD monitor (Acer). When it had problems under warranty I had to bundle up the 24 inch widescreen and pay to ship it to them so they could fix it.

I'm not a fan of the policy.

In regards to the Beretta specifically, the issue with it came up the first time I shot it (after having it for less than two weeks). I bought it from a store in another state and had it shipped to my FFL so there wasn't much I could do (other than this).

 

[TRguy]

UPS will not deliver a handgun to a residence, you will need to go to the local hub and pick it up.

 

[TCOV]

I have received handguns shipped to my home from UPS and FEDEX with signature required. If no one is home a card is left with instructions to pick up package. I'm not sure they know or care what is in the box.

 

[Omaha-BeenGlockin]

They sent my SR9 back to my house---I wound up picking it up at the main depot cause no one was home at the time of delivery.

 

[DHJenkins]

Manufacturer's usually send their items "signature required", so if you're not at home don't sweat it. In fact, as soon as you get your first delivery attempt notice, you can call UPS and have the package re-routed to somewhere else.

 

[c5_nc]

They can do "hold at UPS location" or put the UPS location address on label and you can pick it up. I do this all the time with live fish with UPS and Fedex. Handguns can go to your house. I came home earlier this week to a handgun sitting on my steps from UPS and 1280 rounds of ammo for it right next to it from FedEX. Both sig required, both just left there. Cheapest way to send handguns is UPS 2nd day air in a UPS shipping box. 2nd day is cheaper and acceptable for handguns and UPS box is cheaper to ship. Some people just send the UPS ground, you are violating UPS policy that way, but its just UPS policy.

 

[dogtown tom]

TRguy: UPS will not deliver a handgun to a residence...

Sure they will, as long as you are a licensed dealer. I get UPS handgun deliveries at home almost every day.

Federal law prohibits marking the box with "BIG GUN INSIDE!!!", so the delivery driver has no way of knowing what's inside.

 

[searcher451]

The only customer service operation I have experienced which forced me to return one of its pistols at my own expense was Beretta. It also took more than 6 weeks to get their authorization so that I could return a brand new Tomcat to them ... at my expense. It told me all I needed to know about Beretta. Never again, as the saying goes.

 

[caleb]

I have had both Colts and Glocks shipped back to my house via UPS and FEDEX. More than once no one was home and it was left on the front step.

 

[TRguy]

I stand corrected.

As I have an FFL and all UPS and FED Ex deliveries are sent here to the shop.

My one experience years ago with a firearm and UPS was C&R FFL related and I was told to pick it up at the hub. In hindsight I believe no one was at the residence to sign and was left a note to after the second attempt pick it up at the hub.

 

[TheElyrian]

Searcher: When I went to the Beretta USA site and looked at the list of authorized warranty repair centers, I noticed the place I originally bought it from (Midwest Gun Works) was on the list. Since it's the closest to me geographically and I had bought the gun from them to begin with that's the place I shipped it to.

I shipped it via UPS on Wednesday about 5 30pm. Yesterday (Thursday) at about 4pm I got a call from a guy at Midwest Gun Works. He told me he had already fixed the problem with the gun (something about "linkage"?), put the Trijicon sights on for me that I had ordered from somewhere else and had sent to them, and that he'd ship it back on Monday because if he had done it today it would just sit in a warehouse for the weekend.

So in less than 24 hours of literally leaving my hands they'd already fixed what needed to be fixed and slapped some new sights on for me (at no charge) and had it ready to come back.

While I didn't have to deal with Beretta themselves I have nothing but good to say about Midwest Gun Works.

And I'm just going to get the UPS hub address and have them ship it there. I don't want to bother with missing the package and having to reschedule for the next day or even worse the UPS guy just leaving it on my front step.

Thanks for the help guys.

 

[searcher451]

Interesting, Elyrian. Wish I had been given the option. It took 6-weeks or more of back-and-forth phone calls and emails just to get the authorization to ship the gun to Beretta -- at my expense, of course. It was another month before they returned a new Tomcat to me, with no explanation as to what the problem was, exactly, with the original one I was forced to send back after a mere 66 rounds down the pipe. I've dealt with both the Walther America and Ruger folks' cusstomer service departments and would give each one of them Grade-A, USDA-Prime ratings for helpful service. Beretta? Not so much. But it's good to know that you had a far more positive experience.