Thompson Center Arms

[redrider]

I am going through a rather frustrating experience with TC.
I bought an R55 Benchmark from my local gunshop. I bought this gun because of it's supposed exceptional accuracy that rivaled the custom guns in a semi-auto platform. In short the gun would not group. Either the barrel is not square with the receiver or the holes for the scope base are not square on the receiver. Additionally, and it could be that I was near the end of adjustment on the scope, I got a 5inch diagonal five shot"group" at fifty yards.
I returned the gun to my gunshop and they took the lead in trying to return it to TC. Nobody at TC would return their calls.  After a few weeks of getting the same spiel from my gunshop, I tried, guess what, they wouldn't return my calls either. I tried waiting on hold for half an hour and still no contact. In despairation, I tried an email. It worked.  Living in the Republic of California, I have to go through an FFL dealer to return the gun. TC told the gunshop to return the gun and they would reimburse for shipping.
The gun has been with TC since mid January. I have initiated contact with their customer service on numerous occasion since then. Every time it was the same old thing "we don't know when production will resume. You'll just have to wait". Of course it's paraphrased, but that was the gist of our conversations. About a month ago they offered to give me a spotter instead of the Benchmark. I did not accept this as I see it as a step down. Since then I have been offered a G2 and more recently,a Venture. I suggested an Icon Precision Hunter which was dismissed.  All their efforts fell short in terms of value. Suffice to say, they have a very cavalier attitude an have done nothing to appease me. 
Now I get a reply to my numerous emails saying that the customer service supervisor put in an order to production to replace my gun.  What that turned out to mean was that if and when production resumes, I will " hopefully" get one.
There is still no time frame attached. It could be MONTHS.
Be advised, if you get a TC with a problem, you might as well kiss your money goodbye.
Thanks for letting me vent.   RR

[Sean P.]

WOW 
Nice costumer service
It speaks volumes when people get jerked around like this.
I know that people like to smash Millett Scopes but the one I have works great and they have GREAT costumer service. I broke a part on one of there scopes and sent it back to them and said that I would like to pay the difference to upgrade to the LRS-1 which just came out that year.  About 2 months went by and I was starting to wonder what was going on so I gave them a call.  The supervisor called me back and said that they have been very busy and have not had a chance to get to my order and for the inconvenience they are sending me the LRS-1 FREE of charge.  Two days latter it was on my door step.  Now I have had the scope for just about three years and has not let me down ONCE.  Sorry to hear about your trouble let us know how it ends up.

[Lucas B.]

Sorry to hear your troubles Red, I hope it eventually works out for you. Welcome to the LRS forums.

[redrider]

This is an update to my situation.  After posting threads on different forums and emailing Smith and Wesson requesting that their VP Marketing, who is also VPM for TCA ( or his secretary) contact me. Miraculously I received a phone call the next morning from the customer service supervisor.  She informed me that the barrel had come off the production line and that the gun would be assembled on Monday 5-03-2010, it would then be test fired and shipped out next day air along with extra mags and a hat for my troubles.  I stopped by the gunshop on Wednesday 05-05-2010,  the gunsmith and gunshop owners had already done an inspection and found cracks in the laminated stock and the barrel off .050 from square from the receiver to the end of the barrel which is less than 18 inches.  This was apparent without all the precision measurement because of how the barrel sat in the stocks channel.  What I can't understand is how it could have been test fired and proclaimed to shoot a one inch group.  The group would have had to be off to the left again, was that not a telltale sign that something was wrong?  The gunshop and gunsmith had already contacted TC and read them the riot act.  The next morning I called TC and the customer service supervisor returned my call shortly afterwards.  At that time I was offered any Icon except the Precision Hunter.  After consulting my the gunshop owner, I called TC and told them I would take a Classic in 30-06.  This was the gunshops choice.  They will take that gun and sell it, in the meantime they are giving me store credit for the entire investment I had in the Benchmark.  With that credit I bought a used 10/22 for the receiver, ordered a Lilja barrel, Timney trigger, Volquartzen cantilever scope rail mount and mag release, a Revolution Yukon stock.  The scope from the Benchmark will land on the build.  It is a Burris 4X12 AO Timberline.  Yes, it will cost a few dollars more but I think it is money well spent.  So in a few weeks I will be a happy camper.
All I can add is if you are considering a TC especially a rimfire, go to Rimfirecentral.com and read the thread with the header: Does anyone have a gun at Thompson Center.  Apparently I was not the only one in the same  predicament.  Just a word to the wise.

[Lucas B.]

Well it could have been worse... glad you got some closure with the situation.

[Mike O.]

Interesting topic...

I've shot a few firearms but I don't really know much of anything about engineering, manufacturing and more importantly, the business side of firearms manufacturing.  Having said this, it still amazes me how any company with any desire to be around in 10 years, can be so dismissive to a customer who took a risk and invested in the future of that company and got shortchanged by not receiving what anyone would regard as "minimum expectations" from their purchased product. 

Thompson's (or the rest of them for that matter) have been around a long time.  This isn't some start up company that's just getting their sea legs.  I get annoyed at companies that have a canned excuse like "not until the next production run...".  That's just Insider talk.  I don't care and I shouldn't have to care about why your company failed to deliver upon their promise and/or why you failed to anticipate such problems in the first place.  What I do acknowledge is that it is not a perfect world we live in.  As such, just make it right and do it now.  I don't give my friends $700 loans so why should do we give firearms companies a pass/loan when almost any other manufacturer of almost any other product can resolve a problem to satisfaction in a timely manner? 

The answer to that question lies in the Company Culture and the Culture is a top-down thing.  If a company will pick up the phone for a Dealer making a purchase order but won't pick up the phone for some poor slob who who had to work 6 months to save up enough dough to buy their product, then you have a very clear perspective into the Company Culture.  Basically... hamburgers don't look like they do in the ads so why should you expect our rifles to shoot like our ads say they will?  And hey, if they don't and we can't repair or replace the product with a matching item, then we'll just give you one of our lesser products because anyone stupid enough to buy our product doesn't deserve an upgrade for their considerable inconvenience.  In other words, it's just fine if you miss hunting season but it'll be a cold day in h*** before our company takes a $40 loss (cost) on an item that would resolve the problem instantly.  As it is, you can't hardly find a $700 rifle that you don't need to take directly from the retailer, straight to a gunsmith, just so it will function like a rifle's supposed to.

All is not lost.  It seems there's still a few American and foreign manufactures that that are into making great products and stand behind them.  Just remember history.  Our American Automobile Industry had all the business and unfortunately all the excuses until one decade, their buying public silently got fed up with their crap products and excuses and were willing to pay more for quality.  35 years later, they're still suck'in hind *** but now that those old executives are retired or dead, things are getting a little better.       

So you say Savage lives up to it's reputation... Well O.K.