Brand New Gold Fusion with a problem but Browning make right

Discussion in 'Browning Gold Shotgun' started by nitesite, Nov 1, 2011.

  1. nitesite

    nitesite .410

    Around 7-8 years ago I wanted to buy a 3" 12-ga Gold Fusion. It had excellent features and was considered a very light and fast handling semi-auto, plus I really liked that it almost exclusively came with Turkish Walnut wood and five choke tubes. No other shotgun in its price category did that.

    However, there weren't any in my home state at any LGS or distributor. My favorite LGS wasn't a Browning Authorized Dealer so the wait would be quite long. So I found one online in Pennsylvania. Four days after ordering it it arrived and I picked it up.

    And I was immediately dissappointed from the moment I opened the case.

    The buttstock and forend looked absolutely horrible! There were at least four different colors of wood, the checkering hadn't been re-stained after cutting, it was just a horrible mess. The buttstock looked like a piece of cheap rootwood was used, with two vastly different colors one the top half and one the bottom. The forend was another color entirely and there was even a knot in the wood you could see and feel.

    [​IMG]

    I called the Browning Warranty Center, and two times discussing my problem with two different warranty reps I was told that there really was no problem as woodgrain issues weren't covered under warranty.

    I didn't give up. After all, this was a shotgun I just paid four figures for! So I mailed photographs and identical letters to the President of American Operations, the Vice President in charge of Public Affairs, the Director of Warranty Operations, the Director of Marketing and one or two others whom I thought would like to see what Quality Control had churned out.

    Well, amazingly the US Postal Service got my first-class letters from Alabama to their offices in just two days and soon I started getting telephone calls at work assuring me that a return shipping label for my Gold Fusion had just been shipped via Overnight FedEx. Promises were made to me that a process that would normally take weeks would be turned around as quickly as humanly possible.

    And six days after I shipped my Gold Fusion to the Warranty Center, here's what I got back.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    The photos were taken with a cheap and crappy camera and they don't do the wood furniture justice. It shimmers in the light, sort of like birdseye maple. It may not be Grade III wood but I was happy with it then, and years later it still looks great with a little bit of honest wear from use.

    Browning makes the finest semi-auto shotgun in its price category and if you ever try a Gold Fusion I don't think you'll be dissatisfied.
  2. DHonovich

    DHonovich Founder Staff Member Administrator

    Re: Brand New Gold Fusion with a problem but Browning make r

    Its great to hear that Browning stood behind their firearms and made good on their less than stellar stock set. The new set looks great and I would be more than happy to own one like yours.
  3. Billythekid

    Billythekid Administrator Staff Member Administrator

    Re: Brand New Gold Fusion with a problem but Browning make r

    That's great to hear nightsite. Customer loyalty goes hand in hand with customer service and since I have owned a browning a luckily have not had any issues but it's great to know that they take responsibility for the quality of their products they make.

Share This Page