I took several firearms that I own to Brothers N Arms in Ellensberg, WA. to get some Cerkote work done.  Their website indicated that they do Cerakote work and the sign they have in the window of their business indicated that they are certified to do so by Cerakote.  They coated several of my firearms and failed to get it right, even after several attempts.

I dropped off some firearms to be Cerakoted at their shop around June 18th.  I had initially been told they would be done in 2-3 weeks.  I first called on July 15th to inquire and was told that they were almost done.  I then drove out to their shop on July 16th to check the progress in person and collect what had been finished.  I was able to take the Glock slides home after my Glock 30S had been redone while we waited for it.

When I finally get them back, I have all sorts of issues.  I attempted to reassemble my 30S and can’t get the barrel to fit in the slide like it did from the factory nor could I get the guide rod spring to fit in.  The Cerakote was applied way to thick.   One of the other Glocks had a little difficulty as well getting the barrel to fit in place, but nowhere near as bad as the 30S.  As a result, they were shipped back for blasting and another recoat.  Yes, this was the third time they had to coat my slides to get the job done right.

So, fast forward another week and a half now.  I get a couple boxes in the mail from Brothers N Arms.   I look at the 21 and notice that the screw head to the front sight is snapped in half.  Then I look at my 30S and was horrified.  Instead of blasting the slide again and reapplying the Cerakote, someone on their end took a wire wheel to the inside of my slide where the Cerakote had been sprayed to thick.  This was there solution to the over buildup of Cerakote, thus reducing several parts of my slide down to bare metal, and returning it to me in this condition.

The breach face and insides of the slides were sprayed really thick causing the initial problem.  There painter should have masked off the critical areas prior to coating it in the first place.  My other Glock appeared okay until I attempted to reinstall the rear sight.  The Cerakote is so thick that I can’t get the slide in my Glock MGW sight pusher.  It will only fit when I remove the shim.   It also seems to have been applied so thick that the rear sight doesn’t want to fit anymore.

As you can see in the pic, my rifles came back to me strapped together, rubbing against each other in transit.  This resulted in the Cerakote on my rifle being chipped.  After attempting a test fire of my AR, it’s now FUBAR.  Prior to sending it to them for Cerakoting, it ran like a rabid workhorse, it never had an issue.  Now, it might as well be a bolt action rifle as it will only cycle one round at a time and then I get the the dreaded “CLICK.”  The inside of the upper and lower receivers of my AR appear to have a very thick coat of Cerakote applied in them.  It’s actually so thick that I have to use a punch and hammer to drive out the take down pins on both rifles.

I sent the owner (Pete) an e-mail notifying him of what I had found.    I took some pics and included them in the email.  He said that he couldn’t see the pics as they were too blurry.  Pete and I went back and forth a couple of times, where he professed that he couldn’t see the problem and it looked just fine when it left his shop.  

He emailed me the following:


At this point I requested a refund.  The owner became very defensive and told me that he would give me a refund and “close the matter on their end.”  So, I received only a partial refund and am now stuck with some severely screwed up firearms to show for it.  He did not honor our deal and he even kept the bottle of my Cerakote that I supplied for this job.  The owner will not respond to any of my e-mails. It’s going to cost me more than what I originally spent at Brothers N Arms just to fix this whole mess.  It’s a screwed up situation all the way around.  

I dont see any problems- maybe you can post some clear pictures.
If pete cant see those problems- maybe pete doesnt want to see those problems.
We go through Eburg all the time- Ive done threads about finding new gun stores. Well, you gave me a new gun store- but they wont get a penny from me. Shitty work +unhappy customer = noplace I need to visit.
eta- any idiot that would refinish guns, and throw two in a bag to rub against each other in transit needs their <COC violation-please refrain from such suggestion>





 

Can I make a separate thread just like this one in the EE?  I don't want to violate any forum rules.  I don't really use the EE much...

court might be the only way.

If you go to the Cerakote website (http://www.cerakoteguncoatings.com) and use their "Find Applicator" I don't see where there is a Certified applicator in Ellensburg. Cerakote could be delayed in updating their website though.


From the Brother N Arms website (http://www.eburgguns.com/cerakoting/) I see "We now offer Cerakoting through our Mail-Order Gunsmith Service!" but nowhere do I see where they are "Certified". I wonder if they just ship out their work to someone else?

Had comms with a member on WAGUNS a while back that said they destroyed his 1951 pre chiefs special and wouldn't accept responsibility for it.

This is why I test fit as many parts as I can before taking final delivery and only have a shop do one part before I commit to others.

I just found out that they aren't a certified applicator anymore.  They used to be on Cerakotes website and still were a few months ago when I attended the Glock Armorer school that they hosted.  They have a sign in their window that states that they are a certified applicator if I recall correctly.  They do everything in house.  I went back in their workshop to check on my stuff when they kept me waiting just over 5 hours with their "Almost Done... Just about there... Almost Done... approach when I went there in person last month.  I'm gonna go out on a limb here though and speculate that the really nice Cerakoted stuff in there showroom is something that they sent out to get done.  After seeing their applicators work, there is no way in hell that he did that nice of a job.  

I'm going to explore the small claims court route as well as a formal complaint with the BBB.  And considering Pete never made 100% good on our deal involving my trade to his store for an M1A, I'll be contacting the BATFE as well.

20/20 hindsight.  That is what I should have done.  Good advice sir.

Wow.





And the hits keep on coming.
I hate that you two got hosed- but Im glad its out for others to not get plucked. Thank you.





I see they are advertising on Armslist now.











 

**Update**  Nope, still haven't heard from Brothers N Arms.  They still have not contact me, nor have they refunded all of my money or returned my Cerakote to me.  Funny as the Cerakote of mine that they used is controlled and not for sale to the general public as it's IR Reduction.  I checked with Cerakote prior to dropping it off to make sure it was okay, and I was told that it okay as long as I was sure to get the unused portion back.  

So, I finally had a few minutes to sit and try to diagnose my AR that they did for me.  I broke it all down and noticed that it was full of a nasty gunky type substance and it was filthy.  I think that it's fair to mention that when I sent it to them, it was clean enough to pass a "white glove" inspection.  All the firearms that I received back from Brothers N Arms were filthy.  I literally spent almost 2 & 1/2 hours or so cleaning my AR.  It was returned back to the condition that I normally keep my firearms at, clean and inspection ready.  I lightly lubed it with some Frog Lube (my normal choice of lube) before heading out to the range.  It now fires flawlessly as far as I can tell.  I did a few mag dumps with a few different kinds of ammo all loaded in different types of mags.  

So, if you want your firearms all screwed up, a botched Cerakote job, and returned to you either completely filthy and / or with broken pieces, then Brothers N Arms is your place.  If you want to be chastised and then ignored when you politely bring any problems that they created to their attention, then Brothers N Arms is the place for you.  

**Edit**  I forgot to mention, If you want a gun shop that will make a deal with you, take one of your firearms in trade, and stiff you, not paying you or honoring their end of the deal, then Brothers N Arms in Ellensberg, WA. is most definitely the place for you.

You should fill out a yelp review for them.  That probably has the most impact for the least amount of work.

Ahhhhh hell. I just dropped off four receivers to be engraved there day before yesterday. Now I'm worried.

I did.  It doesn't show for the public but shows when I log into my yelp account.  I've emailed them to inquire.  I don't want anyone else getting screwed like I did.  

mizzarley, best of luck to you sir.  I sincerely hope that your lowers come out perfect.  If they don't, then don't expect them to own up to it.  They will probably blame the company that made your lowers, right after they blame Bush.....

I'll post some pics when I get them back.

Yelp?

I'd probably go buy the domain name "brothernarms.com" for $12.99. Yes, it's available.

It's amazing how much leverage you can have when you own their domain name.

How the hell do I go about doing that?  I'd love to...  Go Daddy says that it's already registered.

Odd.

Godaddy says brothernarms.com is still available. As is .net, .info and .org

Network Solutions also says brothernarms.com is available.

Did I misspell it?

 I must not be the only one who wants it.....  The current bid is up to $350.00 right now....

ah,

I was looking at brothernarms.com when it should have been brothersnarms.com

Got my receivers back from BnA today. They look better than my ipad pics show.

mizzarley, I'm glad it worked out for you.  You seem to be the exception to the rule.

I got lucky. Not going back to their shop after the hack job they gave you.

That shop is only 2miles from my house, sad to hear they treating you like this.

It truly is sad.  That is not a way to do good business.  I offered more than one reasonable solution to the owner prior to asking for a refund.  After-all, it doesn't do much good to complain about something in this regard unless your willing to offer a solution to the problem.  I made every attempt to work it out, those attempts fell on deaf ears.   Not only was I lied to, but my firearms were seriously screwed up by them, and in the end, I got ripped off.