Why Did Remington Abandon The 522?
I know it is a piece of junk, but there are a lot of them around, and Remington seems to have "forgot" that they every built this rifle, as though they are embarrassed by it, and would just as soon put an ugly episode behind them.
Here is a letter I sent them. They haven't had time to reply yet, but I will let you know if they do.
Sirs:
I don't understand the factory refusing to support the Remington 522 Viper with parts, spare magazines, and service. You apparently think the rifle is a piece of junk, and maybe are ashamed you ever made it. Well, that is true, and you should be. But, you DID make it, and there are lots of them in circulation. As a matter of fact, I have quite a few of them myself. Most are in working condition, but need magazines, and you won't sell me any magazines. I don't get it.
The Remington 710 is also a piece of junk, yet you continue to sell it and support it with parts, service, magazines, etc. You have even started selling a line of firearms that you don't even make. They are direct imports. I wonder how long before they become "orphans" unsupported, with no parts or service available.
Did you ever hear of Daisy? The BB gun manufacturer. For a time, Daisy made .22 rimfire rifles, of pretty good quality. Then, Daisy entered into a contract with Wal*Mart to produce a .22 rifle exclusively for Wal*Mart, at a substantially reduced price. Daisy came up with a rifle that was a piece of junk. I didn't know it was a piece of junk, and I bought one, used, for my boys to shoot. I found that the rifle would not fire reliably. I contacted Daisy to see about buying a new firing pin spring. Daisy would not sell me any springs. Instead, they did something remarkable.
Daisy offered to pay me for the rifle, at the last published suggested retail price, if I would return it to the factory. This was not a published recall, but a recall nonetheless. Daisy was ashamed enough of this piece of junk and concerned enough about their name and customer good will, that they bought back any guns that were problematical and brought to their attention. I was happy to return the rifle to Daisy, and they did pay me for it. I didn't profit from the exchange; just about broke even, I reckoned.
YOU made a piece of junk in the 522 Viper. YOU must accept responsibility for that. You should either support the rifle with parts, service, and spare magazines, or else offer to purchase back any rifles in circulation that are giving problems, just as Daisy did. Doing neither leaves YOUR customers cheated out of the money they paid for YOUR product, trusting YOUR name, believing that YOU still made a quality product.
Please reply and tell me what you intend to do about the 522 Viper.
Sincerely,
David Nunn
Here is a letter I sent them. They haven't had time to reply yet, but I will let you know if they do.
Sirs:
I don't understand the factory refusing to support the Remington 522 Viper with parts, spare magazines, and service. You apparently think the rifle is a piece of junk, and maybe are ashamed you ever made it. Well, that is true, and you should be. But, you DID make it, and there are lots of them in circulation. As a matter of fact, I have quite a few of them myself. Most are in working condition, but need magazines, and you won't sell me any magazines. I don't get it.
The Remington 710 is also a piece of junk, yet you continue to sell it and support it with parts, service, magazines, etc. You have even started selling a line of firearms that you don't even make. They are direct imports. I wonder how long before they become "orphans" unsupported, with no parts or service available.
Did you ever hear of Daisy? The BB gun manufacturer. For a time, Daisy made .22 rimfire rifles, of pretty good quality. Then, Daisy entered into a contract with Wal*Mart to produce a .22 rifle exclusively for Wal*Mart, at a substantially reduced price. Daisy came up with a rifle that was a piece of junk. I didn't know it was a piece of junk, and I bought one, used, for my boys to shoot. I found that the rifle would not fire reliably. I contacted Daisy to see about buying a new firing pin spring. Daisy would not sell me any springs. Instead, they did something remarkable.
Daisy offered to pay me for the rifle, at the last published suggested retail price, if I would return it to the factory. This was not a published recall, but a recall nonetheless. Daisy was ashamed enough of this piece of junk and concerned enough about their name and customer good will, that they bought back any guns that were problematical and brought to their attention. I was happy to return the rifle to Daisy, and they did pay me for it. I didn't profit from the exchange; just about broke even, I reckoned.
YOU made a piece of junk in the 522 Viper. YOU must accept responsibility for that. You should either support the rifle with parts, service, and spare magazines, or else offer to purchase back any rifles in circulation that are giving problems, just as Daisy did. Doing neither leaves YOUR customers cheated out of the money they paid for YOUR product, trusting YOUR name, believing that YOU still made a quality product.
Please reply and tell me what you intend to do about the 522 Viper.
Sincerely,
David Nunn
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Nunn..I had one back around 99..I concur it was junk..I was able somehow to dispatch several nuisance grackles with it..[somehow]..I could never get a scope sighted in on it,I figured it was the polymer rail warped or worse..soon traded it off to a guy that couldn't live with out it,I do know where one is if you want it holler and i will see about the bottom dollar price..and it has the mag w/it..Loko 0 -
That's a good letter. Let us know what comes of it. 0 -
Luckily when I was buying my first semi auto 22, I couldn't afford the new viper and settled for a used 10/22 0 -
I hope you get some satisfaction or at least a reply, but I'm afraid Remington isn't the company it used to be. About two or three years ago I had a problem with a Remington 1100. I had loaned it to a member of the family and when I got it back I couldn't get a shell into the magazine. None of the gunsmiths around here could figure out what was wrong with it. I figured if it could be fixed, Remington could do it, so I called Remington and asked if they would try to fix it.
They wanted me to send them the shotgun and two shells that wouldn't go into the magazine. It cost me more to ship the shells than the shotgun, but I did it.
I got a bill from some gunsmith in New York for "magazine adjustment". Remington didn't even try to camouflage the deal by paying the gunsmith and billing me. All Remington did was send it out to a gunsmith. All the gunsmith did was send a bill. If anybody did anything to the shotgun, I can't prove it.
Remington 1100 is still my favorite shotgun, but Remington isn't my favorite company.0 -
U done good RB.The Ruger is a MUCH better rifle..[:D]
Jeff0 -
Good letter, but the wording is a bit harsh to expect a response. You might have considered using the words "Inferior product", instead of a "piece of junk". They know it is junk, and they are embarrassed of it. I feel that rubbing their noses it will only make them file your letter in the "D" file.
Trinity +++0 -
Please keep us in the loop on this one. If this is truely how this has played out so far, I would not be surprised if they just dont respond. Nice letter though. 0 -
If that letter works we could try sending one to Ruger about the same problem with the 180 series of Mini-14s. 0 -
Wow if I cahnge a few words I could send tha letter to Bill Gate concerning the previous editions of windows that they no longer support....ME that was crap from day one comes too mind!!!! 0 -
JamesRK, I found out by having to send a gun back that Remington uses "authorized gunsmiths" to fix their problems. I had a brand new 700 22-250 that the bolt face was not ground correctly. They told me I would have to pay to ship it to an authorized smith in my local area. I called BS and told them that since it was a new gun they needed to pay for shipping and I wanted a factory smith to fix it. So they paid for the shipping. I shipped it to Remington then Remington shipped it to the outfit in New York and then they shipped it back to me. Works great now but it didn't leave the best impression with me. Still the Rem 700 is my favorite rifle.
I also am interested to see what comes of this letter.0 -
Remington 7615...great marketing idea. A pump .223 that takes an AR magazine. To bad they aren't smart enough to make a semi-automatic rifle.
I hope Cerebus fires these Remington "engineers" and replaces them with Bushmaster guys.0 -
Why Did Remington Abandon The 522?
BECAUSE IT SUCKS!0 -
I doubt you will get anything other than a form letter reply, but if you do, I would be very interested in what they have to say. 0 -
I don't know. I had a .40 caliber round by Remington that had no flash hole in the case head. It went "Pffft," and tied the gun up so that we had to use a cleaning rod down the bore and a mallet on the end of it to open the action.
I sent the defective round in with a strongly worded letter of complaint. I received no apology, but they did send two caps and several boxes of 12 gauge slug ammo.0 -
Actually "junk" is the best term for the Viper. The trigger is inexcusable even in our litigation-happy age, and the one I have happily jams every other shot. While I am not sorry I bought several Viper magazines on WallyWorld clearance some years back, I would be happier if Remington offered to buy the thing back at MSRP 0 -
Speaking of consumer complaints, I know if a person were to buy a bottle of beer and there was a defect and complain, the bottle and the consumers name makes it from the brewery to the bottle manufacturer. I don't know what the brewer does for the customer. Some customers complain about the most trivial defects, but most are legitimate complaints. 0
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