About a year or more ago I reported here on AR about my first "big-bore" rifle, a CZ550 American in 375H&H. I also ended up asking a few questions about some of the problems I had with that rifle, and received a ton of excellent feedback from the AR membership.

That rifle had feeding/extraction problems, the action was extremely rough/gritty, and it was shooting 12" low at 100yds even with the scope maxed out vertically.

Back it went to CZ who quickly took care things and that rifle is now an MOA shooter (better than me in reality) which feeds and functions without problem.

2 months ago I stepped up a level and bought another 550 American in 416 Rigby, thinking my 375H&H had been my bad-luck purchase. Well.......

The new rifle exhibited the Exact. Same. List. Of. Problems.

That's the bad.

I arranged to send it back as well, and this time I also decided to write a letter (gasp!) to Ms. Poluchova explaining my experiences.

Within 3 days, she not only received it, but she actually read it (gasp!!). She asked her guy (Jason) to call me and discuss my rifle(s) and offer her assurances. So far so good.

Jason called me, and we spoke about the problems while the 416R was still in transit to them. He looked at the records of both rifles and explained to me that in 2007 (when my 375 was manufactured) and 2008 (when my 416R was manufactured) they were having ongoing issues with large caliber barrels coming from the Czech factory that were "less than straight". The incidence rate during this time was 1-2% so it was extremely unfortunate that I received two "bad ones".

Once they receive my 416, his custom shop would pull the barrel, true the faces (?) and tune (?) or replace the barrel as needed.

We hung up and I guess I was satisfied... I knew all along they would fix it, but the fact that CZ took the time to quickly respond to a pissed off customer and admit their mistake was a "little thing that meant alot" to me. Sure, it should've been right before they shipped it, but being in manufacturing myself, I know shtuff happens.

Jason followed up via email two days later to let me know the 416 had been delivered and he would start going over it.

I'd had two days to work myself back up. After all I can understand one rifle needing warranty service, but having two with the same quality problems did seem a bit much, so I figured, why not: I asked him, politely, that since I was out the cost of shipping two rifles, 2x lost time, 2x "wasted" ammo, 2x etc... would CZ be willing to offer me a free "upgrade" by installing a barrel band while it was in his custom shop.

His response: "We'll take care of it".

Now some may think "big deal", but this is a $300 option per their web-site, it was something I was wanting to have done locally, and I honestly don't want to be "one of those customers" who demands $1200 worth of freebies on an $1100 rifle.

They are standing behind their product and are agreeing to throw me a bone as well. The moral of my story I guess: we can (and do) all complain about the quality of factory rifles, and for $1k+ we should expect the thing to at least work. However the reality is they don't always work... twice even. CZ at least listened to me, and more importantly spoke to me about my problem... and tossed in a little tangible goodwill as well.

This is not a new lesson or revelation, but fix your customers' problems and they tend to become better customers.

Don't ignore them and hope they go away, because they will... like me and Remington... but that's another story.

Will I buy another CZ? Sure will.

Mike

Thanks for taking the time to post your experience with CZ customer service. It looks like they are standing behind their product and owning up to a QC issue and making it right.

I also respect you not starting an Internet flame war and demanding unreasonable upgrades like I have seen in other forums. In the end, it almost looks like a win-win for both of you though, you did suffer some downtime and frustration along the way waiting for your new rifle to be fixed.

I think CZ are a great platform if you purchase them knowing some work will need to be done. On the bright side, you got one heck of a deal on a barrel band. If the rifle doesn't have crossbolts, you may want to ask them to install those while it's there. I remember hearing this was a fix they would also do for free due to the number of split stocks being sent back to them.

Enjoy your new rifle. I've got one slicked up by AHR and I love it ... just need to find me a cape buffalo or a lion wandering around to shoot with it.

I've had excellent experience with CZ's customer service, Jason was especially helpful.

Interesting.


I wish Ruger would fix what problems they are having with
their guns / stocks. Seems to occur on and off all the time.

That's a great story. As we say in our business, every problem is an opportunity to display outstanding customer service. Customers tend to remember more that you went the extra mile to correct a problem than if everything went as expected. That's good press for CZ.

I can't believe you received two lemons. At least they repaired them. What a pane in the pooper!!!

Ordered a a CZ on the other end of the end... a .17 HMR. On arrival the stock was cracked. Called and was asked to return to KC. A few days later a box arrived and a nice note. Later at Reno I made it a point to visit and again thank the CZ people.

They could teach some of our firearms producers a thing or two about service,relationships and manners. But some of ours are too smug.

ER

I've had similar experiences with CZ's larger calibers, specifically .375 and .416Rigby. My solutions have been to get them fixed locally since there are several fine shops within reasonable distance. After about 40 rounds the .416 stock split from the barrel lug to the action lug, and it wasn't s small crack! The rifles are diamonds in the rough, but I would always check the bedding and the chambering/ejection function. And I always check for screw tightness. Once they're right they are fine rifles and bargains too. II wish CZ could improve its QA to fix what seems to be a too common complaint. If it could be right the first time it would save us and them time and money