"I was a long time customer of this company, but that all changed today. I received an email which clearly stated 30% off the entire site, and that the deal was ending soon. I went to the site and placed $250 worth of product in my cart and then looked for a promo code for 30% off. Not being able to find one I contacted Brenda using the online chat feature, and asked what the promo code was for this deal. I was told to call ***-***-**** to speak with a customer service rep. I then connected Jane with customer service who was of no real help and she sent me to Lainie Fox who I forwarded the email to. Mrs. Fox told me it must be a typo, and that they meant $30 off a $300 purchase, which I pointed out is 10% not 30%. Mrs. Fox said sorry and that they would not honor the 30% off. I feel it is very deceptive marketing to lure you in with a large discount and then bait and switch you to a smaller one. I will no longer be shopping with Brownells and I will be telling everyone I know about my experience. The days of “the customer comes first” are obviously dead for this company. "
"I purchased a Henry rifle on June 12 (First Brownells purchase ever). The price was almost to good to be true, plus a coupon knock the price down another $20. After ton's on online price shopping no-one came close. I pull the trigger and bought it. My brother in law bought a Walther from the Sportsman Outdoor superstore at the same time (I found him the deal). I notice a lot of negatives about that store which prompted me to look up Brownells review. Wow, not a good track record. Honestly, had I read them prior I would have paid the higher price elsewhere. Glad I didn't. I expect Fedex Smartpost slow boat shipping from there to here in Maine. Well, they shipped on Wednesday and It made it to my FFL dealer today (Friday the 15th). In my hands by 4:30. I'm not saying the reviews are fake or wrong but I had to give them their due by writing this review. "
"Yesterday I work some items. And yes I made a mistake 3 hours later I called to correct the mistake. 4 hours after that I realized no actions were taken. And the phone lines were down. Luckily they had chat online. So I answered my email address and proceeded to chat with Josh at Brownells. He explained to me that it is too late to change your order. I said I called three hours after my order to correct a mistake. I never got a confirmation email. He said there's nothing I can do it's already in picking stage I ask to speak with the supervisor and he got my number and said she would call me back in the morning. 8 in the morning no call 11 no call. 1130 tracking number was attached to the incorrect order. I spoke with customer service they could not do anything. I talked to the supervisor. She said after it gets so far there's nothing we can do I explained to her the whole situation I said can you just not ship the item cancel the whole order ? she said no. I explained to her after 30 minutes of trying to understand why they cannot just not do something as opposed to do something regardless of it being wrong because the computer says they have to, I told her I am going to go through my whole gun safe shop and garage and return every single item to Brownells I have ever bought. She said I'm going to stop the order right now since you're just going to return it anyway. I was at a loss for words this is the whole thing I wanted her to do since the day before that they explain to me was beyond their control. the one thing that they said they could not do she is going to do out of spite so I cannot return it. I'm still going to return everything I've ever bought that is in my garage in my shop in my gun safe. It's all going back to Brownells. I'm never buying from them again"
"The "FFL" that was at the top of the list on the Brownell's website ended up being some random guy that didn't answer the phone and wasn't available for almost a week following my purchase. Brownell's refused to help me with the situation and I ended up having to get a refund. I wouldn't recommend using this site as they are unwilling to help if anything goes wrong with your order."
"Shop somewhere else. I recommend Midway."
"Been with Brownells for over 30+ years. Last 4-7 years has seen a vast decrease in margins for Dealers / Gunsmiths, and an even worse decline in their customer service. AND NOW I get charged a $10 Fee to order anything with a serial number on it??? Brownells now sells to my customers for nearly the same price I pay. They should just call themselves Midway USA II! Lately, I ordered a small order on 3-8-18 and its not expected to arrive until 3-24-18!?!?! I placed another small 2 piece order 3-9-18 and it arrived today, 3-20-18!?!?! WHY the Difference!?!?! Was told on the phone, "we are behind orders 2 weeks right now!", why is there no notice on this time to process change? No I am behind farther than two weeks and look like a fool in front of my customers waiting for their repairs to be done! VERY SAD. CANCELLING AND CLOSING MY ACCOUNT. CAN GET MANY OF THE SUPPLIES ON AMAZON CHEAPER NOW ANYWAY!!!"
"I ordered some parts on 3-6. the order did not ship until 3-12. the expected delivery is 3-19. Brownells is 3 hrs away. i called about my order and was put in queue, i was 18 in line. i never received a call back. i have been a customer for 20 years. i have a dealer account for 20 years as well. their dealer prices are the same as Midway's everyday prices if not higher. this has all happened since they opened the retail store. customer service is down, prices are up, shipping time is forever. DO YOUR SHOPPING ELSEWHERE, BROWNELLS IS A LAST RESORT."
"I ordered parts and tools over a week ago. I compared prices, and because Brownells was $6 cheaper on a $100 order than other places online I figured I'd go with them. This was my first experience ordering from Brownells and can honestly say it's probably my last. After a week from placing my order and receiving a confirmation email, I just now received a notification saying my order JUST NOW shipped. So it's been a week from the time I ordered until they even shipped my items. IMO this is way, way below the "industry standard" as I have ordered from big name companies (Midway) or small mom and pops and my orders have shipped same day or at least the next business day.
To top it off, when I was trying to initially place my order via the website it repeatedly rejected my credit card simply saying "There was an error processing your card". After contacting customer service I was told there was a problem with the credit card processing so I asked if I could just complete the order and pay via phone. Their answer? "No, they are all tied together so we can't process any credit cards." This is so far below how a big name company in this industry should operate. Ultra-slow shipping and poor sales processing. Can't say I'll ever be visiting or buying from Brownells again. Sorry Brownells, you had a chance to gain a new loyal customer and blew it on the first impression."
"It is 2018 and with online shopping 99% of items they sell can be found elsewhere for about the same price, even directly from the manufacturers. Most places will now be judged and receive return business based on shipping speed. They used to be great but as of around 2 years ago (from when I understand is about when the warehouse moved) it has been awful. Several days to process an order when it used to be out same day. I am ~250 miles North of them in the Twin Cities and for some reason they use FedEx which sends packages 300+ miles east to Chicago. The tracking number I receive from Brownell's is a USPS tracking number which means FedEx is going to pass the item off. Why is FedEx even involved? This is not an isolated incident. As I stated it all started a couple years ago and has happened this exact way with the 4 orders I have placed in this timeframe. Needless to say I am done with this company. 13 days to get a bottle of RCBS cleaning solution is insane."
"I've been a customer with brownells, but they're not the only place I order from (more on that later). I have not had an order cancel that was in stock, I've not had an issue with customer service but I've not had to deal with them much. I see a lot of hate mongering here which is the reason I'm writing this. There is ONE BIG ISSUE that NO ONE TALKS ABOUT, the prices are not usually the best, some considerably higher. I came to see if anyone had experienced the no hassle money back guarantee but it seems like we have a lot of people who went in with a bad taste and found what they were looking for. Automated emails and an expectation for instant credit checks (when FAQs lists "cards charged when products SHIP"), and small tech issues and ignoring apologies. I am glad I don't have to share a sandbox with some of you. "
"Brownells customer service makes McDonald's cs look professional."
"Thank God it's not just me. Several months ago I ordered some items, received my email confirmation...and waited. A week later, I called to find out where my items were. They canceled my order. When I asked why the guy had no clue. Customer service clueless. Went to Midway instead. I gave them a second shot today. Got the same email confirmation, but called after 1/2 hour later to question why my checking account had not been debited, but I had a confirmation already. This gal actually chuckled when I said 1/2 hour, "It takes longer than that sir". She was politely condescending and frankly shocked when I told her that I refused to be treated like a child and canceled the order on the spot. Less than five minutes later, Midway had debited my account for the same items, at a better price, and it will ship today! The moral of the story...Skip Brownells and try Midway...or anyplace else
Update. It gets worse. I just received a cancellation notice. The notice stated it was canceled due to being out of stock. So...they either lie about their inventory, because they were in stock when I ordered them, or they lie on their paperwork. The order was canceled by me due to belittling customer (lack of)service. "
"Pros: they have a plethora of parts and items available for repairing or for replacement on your guns. They have decent prices on most of their inventory.
Cons: Friendly customer service is non existent, prepare to be treated as a second class citizen. The staff has little to no knowledge that is industry related, arrogance is prevalent amongst them and they seem quite defensive when questioned on subjects they lack education on. They take parts and items that are factory OEM to resell; this behavior is in poor taste along with lacking integrity.
Sorry Brownells, you got the right stuff just not the right people. "
"I will never order from this company ever again. previously ordered last december with no problem. And now ordered an item worth 233.00 online with same shipping and credit card info, got an email saying to call them to complete the process of my order. I called them and asking for my name, address and amount of my order (which I gave info), lastly they ask my credit card info again which at that time I got irritated for the reason of why would they ask all over again, I am afraid that next that the lady will ask is my SS number. I ordered many items online with higher amount like in a thousands without any problem and without this kind of policy. Waste of time."
"I was building an AR and ordering all of the parts from a variety of companies (more on that later). I was looking for an Odin Works adjustable gas block. Brownell's had a great price on it! Almost 10 dollars less than everyone else. I ordered it. Well, I checked my email and the order was in processing. This went on for two days and I decided I'd rather get a Superlative Arms adjustable gas block as it had clamp screws instead of the set screws on the gas block I ordered. I called customer service. I gave them my order number and they looked it up. I told them I wanted to cancel the order and was about to explain why as I wanted to purchase a different gas block that was 20 bucks more. I never got the chance to... I was told the gas block had already shipped. I resigned myself to sending it back after I received it. Here's where the BS comes into play from Brownell's. I still didn't have a tracking number. She said I should be getting it shortly. Well, I got it alright. 2 days later. It hadn't even shipped out when I was told me it had shipped. THEN, It took 5 days to get to me. If Brownell's hadn't BS'd me they could have made more money off of me. As it stands, I ordered parts from over a dozen different retailers and all were good and all shipped products to me at the most... half the time. And the Odin gas block? It's a great block - I'll use it on a new build and I decided to keep it. I still got the Superlative but from a different vendor. I'd have rather paid 10 bucks more for the Odin block from anyone else just to save myself the aggravation of dealing with Brownell's."