Some of you may recall that I bought two CZ RAMI's a month or two ago from a vendor on GunBroker. I can't remember if I said anything about it on this forum, but I had a problem with one of them and had to send it back to Kansas City for warranty repair. I sent the package on Christmas Eve, after CZ had mailed me a pre-paid overnight label to affix to it.
Anyhow, the only possible complaint that I can aim at CZ is that the repair took a bit longer than originally estimated. But when you guys hear what the resolution to my problem ended up being, I doubt you would hold that delay against them any more than I do.
Yesterday I got a call from Matt at CZ. I'm not positive of his position, but I believe he's one of (or maybe the only?) their gunsmiths that work on custom and repair jobs. He told me that my gun was among three that he had seen in recent weeks with the burr problem that caused me to invoke my warranty in the first place. He went on to say that of those three, there was a pretty narrow spread in the serial numbers, leading him to believe that the problem is the result of out-of-tolerance machining in the manufacturing processes. He has written to CZ in the Czech Republic, but hasn't heard back from them yet, but in any case, he said, he wasn't planning on trying to repair these three weapons and instead, wanted to replace my gun with another one. I said that was no problem as long as he could determine before sending the new one that it functioned properly. He said that as far as he knew, the problem has only been seen on the polymer/duo-tone model and that, if I would rather, I could have the alloy framed model instead. Now, for those who don't know, the alloy frame runs anywhere from $40 to $75 more than the polymer frames, so right off the bat I knew that he was offering a darn good deal. Besides the added value over what I had actually purchased though, the fact is, I would've rather had the alloy model to begin with, but I couldn't pass up the GREAT deal I got from Tanner's Guns on GunBroker on the two polymer pieces. So cool, I'm getting a new gun that's worth more than what I originally bought, and is really what I would've rather had to begin with. It took me about one nanosecond to say that sounded just fine. As I was saying that though, he continued talking, saying, "Or you can have another gun if you'd rather. Maybe a 75 or a 75 Compact, whatever, we want to make you happy." I was dumbfounded!!! That just wasn't fair!!! Give me Carte Blanc and give me a chance to second-guess my original purchase!!! Decisions, decisions....
Well, it occurred to me that I had already bought a couple of holsters for it in the interim, so I told him that and said the alloy model RAMI would more than make me happy, but made sure to give my most sincere thanks for giving me the option.
So I'm thinking, OK, my new gun should be here in a week or so, and I was excited about it. But then Matt asked me if I'd be around the house TOMORROW (today!!!) to sign for the overnight package!!! The damned thing showed up about 1:30 this afternoon, and I've already been to the range and shot 150 rounds through 'er without a single hiccup. But the "extra" good service isn't quite over yet.....When I opened up the complete package of the new RAMI (I had only sent the gun and one mag back per Matt's instructions, and still had the case, lock and the 14 rd mag here) there was a new 10 rd mag PLUS TWO MORE 14 rd mags!!!! And those things ain't cheap! They're like $40 bucks a pop most places, and he would've been perfectly justified in not even sending one of the 14 rounders anyway because I still had the one I originally purchased.
So to summarize, I paid a grand total of $740 for two RAMI's, which included shipping and the FFL transfer, which, at $350 ea. was the best deal I've ever seen before or since for those guns, and now I've got a gun that LISTS for $54 bucks more of the LIST price of $557 of the gun I originally bought, and got another $80 bucks worth of magazines to boot!
I have nothing but great things to say about the one polymer gun that is working fine, and can't say enough good things about CZ's (via Matt) off-the-scale GREAT customer service, and I ended up with the gun I wished I could've bought in the first place! Oh, and lest it go unnoticed, CZ paid shipping both ways!! It's not very often that I spend seven or eight hundred bucks, have part of that purchase break, have to use a foreign company's customer service department, and be happy as a pig in mud over the way it all turned out. I could get used to this real easy!!
Just a note.
My CZ527 is now 4ish years old, when i purchased it it had a burr in the breach also.
The aust importer had it ground out, and now im the happiest gun owner. I really love this gun.
Leuopold scopes also did a similar thing to me. I have a 6-20x50 that i bought in 1990. In 2004 it wouldnt keep centre. I returned it to the gunshop who posted it to the importer for repair. 4 weeks later i got a phone call from the gun shop. The scope had been returned to the states, repaired, returned to the same position it left in. It was rifle tested and results incl card sent and a letter explaining all the work done like replacing the crosshair part and thanking me for using it as a real scope. Polished and returned all for free.
Though I don't own but a Mil-Surp CZ-82 I've read CZ's history on the net and they are the best inovative pistol manufactures in the world.
Due to not haveing the best patent protection in years past a lot of CZ's patents have been stolen or used by most major gun manufactures the world over.
So, a warranty replacement firearm can be shipped directly to the consumer?
Yes, a manufacture can send them directly to you if it is repair or similar circumstance, not an initial purchase where a weapon transfer is involved. They have to send it overnight and an adult must be present to sigh for it. I've done this a couple times with S&W recently.
I have had nothing but good luck with my CZ guns, quality has been a notch above the examples I have seen lately from a couple of big name companies (not gonna name names).
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At this point in time, I guess I'd have to take issue with CZUSA being the "Good Guys" I have been having an issue with my new 452 American and e-mailed them sometime back but they have not yet felt it necessary to respond.
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I think I have found the right forum. Here goes. I have been doing research on the 17HMR. Models I have looked at. Remington 504, 547, Ruger 77/17 and this forums favorite CZ-USA 453. I am facinated with the 17HMR ballistics now I want to make the right choice. Any help you men can give me in helping with my selection will be appricated. The rifle will be used for target punching. For the 17HMR glass BSA Sweet 17 3-12. Iam a little leary of the scope.
At this point in time, I guess I'd have to take issue with CZUSA being the "Good Guys" I have been having an issue with my new 452 American and e-mailed them sometime back but they have not yet felt it necessary to respond.
I realize you posted this more than a month ago, so hopefully your issue has been addressed by now. Regardless, without giving any description of your issue and using only one unanswered email to determine that CZ isn't one of the "Good Guys," I think you may be being just a tad bit unfair. Perhaps your issue isn't covered by warranty? Perhaps you neglected to describe it to CZ just as you did here, and they were waiting for a call into their toll-free number before issuing a rather expensive and heavily regulated Return Authorization for your firearm? Perhaps you didn't give them your phone number or address or a copy of your proof of purchase so that a Return Auth. could be issued if your issue is a warranty-covered one? Perhaps they did try to answer your email and it got caught up in a SPAM filter and you missed it or something?
Then again, perhaps you did everything just exactly right and there is no excuse for their ignoring your issue. I never claimed they were perfect. I'll bet they aren't in fact. But even if they unjustifiably neglected to address the issue you wrote them about, it doesn't change the fact that I got exceptional service from them 2 years ago when I wrote the original post here. There is no reason for you to "take issue" with what I said about my own experiences with CZ-USA's Customer Service Department. They were, and remain, one of the "Good Guys" in the gun industry as far as I'm concerned.
I haven't checked in much at this forum for a long time. I just did tonight on kind of a whim and was amazed to find this thread resurrected after 2+ years since I posted it. Both of the RAMI's that I wrote about in this thread are still "in the family." The duo-tone is my wife's EDC and the alloy I carry alternately between a couple of other of my handguns. My wife and I practice shooting often, usually an average of a couple of times a month or more, and both guns have had several thousand rounds slung downrange without a single issue. Anyway, glad to see most replies here were positive about CZ. Two years later, I am still amazed at how well they treated me.
I've been waiting to see anything written about CZ customer service... you just never hear anything about them... I'm guessing because they don't really break.
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CZ
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