From the recall notice:
Beretta U.S.A. Corp. has discovered a potential condition with Beretta .22 caliber NEOS semiautomatic pistols in which the pistol will fire even if the safety is activated and, in some cases, the pistols may fire if the safety is moved from the OFF to the ON position. Chances of either of these situations occurring is extremely remote and no injuries have occurred because of this condition, however, because of safety concerns relating to this situation, Beretta U.S.A. Corp. is immediately implementing a recall of Beretta .22 caliber NEOS semiautomatic pistols.
If you have a Beretta NEOS pistol, please send it to our Accokeek Maryland Service Center for repair. Instructions on how to send your Neos to Beretta is available at www.berettasupport.com/neos or by calling 1-800-BERETTA. Note: Some pistols are not subject to recall. Please visit www.berettasupport.com/neos to see if your NEOS has already been repaired.
Oh not good. I’m pretty sure that having a shot go off because you flipped the safety on would be very unpleasant surprise (even if pointed in a safe direction).
XKL — Very similar to the Beretta 9000S recall that happened in 2000, very shortly after the pistol was introduced. To Beretta’s credit — and unlike many other gun companies — when there is a potential safety issue identified, they do a legitimate recall. Ruger, too, is a company that jumps on safety issues right away… though in Ruger’s case it seems almost like part of their sales strategy at times.
Beretta has made returning the firearm extremely difficult. They generate a call tag with UPS. UPS will bring the tag and accept your packaged firearm. The downside is that UPS will pick up between 8:00 AM and 7:00 PM. They will not give a smaller window. Consequently, because of the way Beretta is implementing this, you are held prisoner for up to eleven hours awaiting the pick up.
A call to Bereta Customer Support revealed that there are customers othe.r than myself who are unhappy with this arrangement, but Beretta will offer no alternative.
I have already informed Beretta that their inflexibility will certainly factor into any future firearm decision and will leave Beretta a poor contender.
Further negative criticism is that Beretta quoted a six week time frame for the repair. My understanding is that they are simply replacing the firing pin. Since I am certain that every owner can disassemble and clean his/her gun, it seems that Beretta could have shipped the replacement part. They could have sent a return mailer for the defective part.
I have already informed the members of my shooting club, and the owners of the range where I shoot regarding this issue. Perhaps enough criticism of this poorly planned recall will cause Beretta to reevaluate their approach
Marvin — Alternatively, you could take your packaged firearm and call tag to your nearest UPS shipping center and drop it off there. That’s what I’ve done with every firearm I’ve needed to ship back to the manufacturer. While this route is possibly less than ideal, it is certainly better than being held prisoner for eleven hours.
You can’t bring your call tag to the nearest UPS center because you can’t print the call tag. Once it’s generated all you get is a tracking number. There is no option to print it yourself. It goes straight to UPS for processing and the guy comes the next business day.
In my case, he came empty handed and wanted me to just give him the package. Uh, no. So he said he’d bring the tag the next day. He showed up again, empty handed. So we repeated this yet a 3rd time, and he finally had the tag and receipt.
My gun has been there since Thursday and it still does not show as “processing”.
If you know your UPS route delivery time in your neighborhood you should be able to time it to be home in that time frame for pickup, My was between 4 and 5 pm and sure enough he was there at 4:30 to pick it up. The down side is I shipped for repair Oct. 7th Beretta received it on the 11th and today is Oct. 16th and they still do not have it showing received on their web site using the serial number search! After an hour trying to get through I was informed it takes up to two weeks to process it and another 6 weeks to get it fixed and shipped back.
I had no problem with the return of the pistol, went online and they printed out the shipping label and the next day the driver was there to get it.
What I am wondering about is how long will this upgrade take and how will we be able to find out when we can expect it back.
Larry B
As of 1/27/2011 Beretta has had my Neos since 10/20/2010. Going on 100 days, I don’t think they know where it is. I am supposed to get an answer by 1/28/2011. Of course, when I talked to someone on 1/4/2011 the date was 1/14/2011.