Poor Remington Quality

[Mike Baugh]

I special ordered a new Remington 870 Police Magnum in January , the gun arrived and when I picked it up the store owner cut the tape on the box to verify Serial # . I noticed the color of the metal did not seem consistent but thought when I cleaned it up at home all would be well . When I got the gun home and unpacked the box I found a parkerized reciever and mag tube , a matt black [home defense version color] barrel and a polished blue pump assembly , the recoil pad was the worst fitting I had ever seen and the trigger was extremely gritty . I called Remington and they said to send it in for repair . I went straight to UPS and sent them the gun , this was the 11th of January , about 2 weeks later I recieved a call from a gentleman that said Remington had in turn sent the gun to him , he was a warranty repair station and he had parts on order . 1 week later I recieved another call from this gentleman stating that he was sending the gun back to Remington because they had sent him 2 barrels both being the wrong finish . I waited about 10 days and called Remington to check status and they said they had refit the recoil pad [I asked them to cut 3/4" off the stock , since the original pad was so messed up they would have to install a new one , but if they cut the stock they could reuse the old pad] they said I owed them $55 for rfiting the pad and shortening the stock , I told them I had no idea there was going to be a $55 charge [I thought I was saving them the cost of a new recoil pad] or I would not have had it done , I asked them why they did not call me to ok the charge and they said they did not have to call if the cost was under $100 . I told them I did not want to pay it and they said "You can pay the $55 or we will keep the gun" when I started to get irate they said "well how much would you have paid to have the stock shortened" I said probably about 1/2 that . They said then we will only charge you $22.50 . I thought I would pay the $22.50 just to be done with it , they said I would have to pay before they shipped the gun back so I gave them my credit card # . I asked if they had put the parkerized parts on the gun yet and they said there was a problem , they would not let a gun leave the factory that way and the gun dealer must have switched parts . I told them how I was there when the tape was cut and I new the store owner personally , plus the parts were new and unfired [I had the gun for a grand total of 1 hour] they said they would have the gun refinished . I recieved the gun tonight with the black finish of the home defense gun [not the parkerized color I had special ordered and bought the Scattergun accesories to match]on the barrel and reciver but the pump assembly was still polished blue , plus when they refinished it they buffed the letters on the barrel so much you can hardly read the words on it , on top of that they sent the gun COD and I had to pay another $22.50 . I have had trouble with Remington in the past and this will be the last firearm of theirs that I purchase . Does anybody know someone at Remington that I can ask for tomorrow when I call ? While I was waiting for the gun to be repaired I purchased a Mossberg 590 and it is a far better weapon quality wise than the Police gun that I have . I believe Remington has went downhill as fast as Colt in the last couple of years and if you want to purchase one of their guns look it over good before you buy it . Mike Baugh...

[jimmy]

Thanks for letting us know about your experience. I'd heard that Remington had permanently closed its service department--obviously this was a bad idea.