Dealing with Sig

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Averageman

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I purchased a Sig 556 two and a half months ago.
The Weapon wouldnt zero at 25 yds it was 4 inches off and had no more adjustment on the sight left to bring it any further. I sent it back to Sig and called them after three weeks. They had not looked at it yet.
I got a call back a week later and found out the weapon was defective. I asked what was wrong with it and the C/S Supervisor at Sig "Scott" told me the weapon need to be replaced.
Apparently the barrel to reciever allignment was incorrect and this was diagnoised by the Gunsmith on hand and that is why it wouldn't shoot straight.
Well not shooting straight is about one of four problems I had with the rifle and why I sent it back in.
1) It wouldnt shoot straight.
2)The rear sight fell off the first time I fired it and would not stay on the rail unless it was locktited in place.
3) A mystery spring fell out of the buttstock,..I have no idea where it goes.
4) The folding stock would never lock in to the folding position.
Now it has been almost two months they have had the rifle, no replacement, no one can give me an estimate when it will be replaced and back in my hand.
They have sent me a sight, a redot to go on my new rifle; but not having that rifle it doesn't do me any good. Today they offered me a Sig 516 to replace the Sig Swat Patrol 556.
Is there ANY legal action I can take to get my money back?
I really have no confidence in Sig Sauer anymore and don't want a replacement rifle, I want my money back.
Thanks
A/M
 
Well the problem is you didn't buy the rifle from Sig, you bought it from someone else.

Sig can make the rifle right but they can't really refund your money, the seller would have to do that. Potentially Sig and your dealer could work it out amongst themselves I suppose if they were willing to do that, probably a distributor in the mix somewhere too.

Where did you buy the rifle?
 
I bought it at Academy Sporting Goods here in Central Texas.
They told me they do NO refunds on guns, you deal with the manufacturer.
Thanks
A/M
 
Were I you I think I would accept the 516.
The 556 are (usually) good rifles but some early ones had problems, including canted rails.
However, the diopter sights they use may look nice and may be good in theory, but are not the best quality. They say "Sig" on them but are made by a company called !tac.
My Patrol Sig has them and I spent awhile fighting with the stupid thing as it tried to spontaneously disassemble itself, until I realized that the hex screw that held the rotor in place was covertly unwinding itself as I made adjustments.
The matter seems under contol as of now, but I was NOT impressed withe the sight, even though I do happen to like it. I have a set of Aurora sights for it and the only thing that's keeping me from switching it out is I have to switch both front & back, as the Auroras are a different height. The Auroras are usually well liked by the Sig 556 community.
If you get the 516 ... check that they don't give you the same "not-the-best" sights they stick on the 556.
556= good rifle=not really good sights.... IMHO.
 
They told me they do NO refunds on guns, you deal with the manufacturer.
Click to expand...

Well you're likely stuck dealing with a replacement rifle then. Would cost more to get them to refund your money than you paid most likely.

Might be better to take the 516 and sell it if it comes to that.
 
I sent Academy an e-mail, perhaps a corporate level they can do something more than at the store.
I had thought about taking the 516 or another 556; but I have no confidence in them and would feel pretty bad about selling what I consider a lemon to someone else.
I am considering sending an e-mail to the Attorney General of Texas. I don't think it would make much of a difference, but this isnt the way commerce should be conducted.
 
I am considering sending an e-mail to the Attorney General of Texas. I don't think it would make much of a difference, but this isnt the way commerce should be conducted.
Click to expand...

Well there isn't anything really "wrong" from a legal standpoint. Academy warns all sales final before the purchase, and the manufacturer is offering an item of equal or greater value as replacement.

Not much for an AG to do given all that.
 
TexasRifleman
Well the problem is you didn't buy the rifle from Sig, you bought it from someone else.

Sig can make the rifle right but they can't really refund your money, the seller would have to do that. Potentially Sig and your dealer could work it out amongst themselves I suppose if they were willing to do that, probably a distributor in the mix somewhere too.
Click to expand...

That's not really true. Example, car manufactures sell cars to dealers, who in turn sell them to you and if the car manufacture is involved in a buy back deal by arbitration, court, etc., they have to re-purchase the vehicle from you. The dealer is out of the loop. Been there, done that, and the Ford dealer where the vehicle was purchased from was not even in the room.
Warranties for new items are issued by the manufacturer, not the seller. The manufacturer can be taken to court and if found liable, can be made to pay back the full purchase price. Whether or not court action is feasible, since hiring an attorney will cost almost as much as the price of the weapon.
It might be worthwhile to go as far as a letter from an attorney to SIG, and see what happens. Or accept the 516 and never deal with SIG again.
 
I would take a replacement rifle, but I wouldn't swear off Sig unless your replacement was also defective. A bad rifle got out, they examined it and agreed it was defective and offered a new replacement along with sending you some extras. That seems like decent service to me.

FWIW, I've had zero problems with mine but I do understan your frustration with getting a defective product.

EDIT - missed the part where they haven't given you an estimated date for the new rifle. So, now I see why you'd rather have the cash back.
 
That's not really true. Example, car manufactures sell cars to dealers, who in turn sell them to you and if the car manufacture is involved in a buy back deal by arbitration, court, etc., they have to re-purchase the vehicle from you.
Click to expand...

Repurchasing is not the same as refunding. Unless he gets a court order for Sig to repurchase the gun he's not going to get money from Sig because he didn't buy it from them. You are talking about 2 different things. Also, car dealers are agents of the manufacturer. Very few gun dealers buy directly from the manufacturer, most go through a distributor first. So this rifle has been through probably 3 owners since it left Sig; the distributor, the dealer, and the end purchaser.

Sig has offered an item of equal or greater value as replacement and he's turned that down. From a legal standpoint they are covered very well here unfortunately.
 
From what I understand the 516 is a much less expensive rifle. The 556 costs about $400 than the 516.

If they were to give you the difference refund then OK. The Sig516 is pretty much just a piston driven AR.

For what Sig charges for their rifles their customer service should be stellar.
 
I was told no 556 Swat Patrol Rifles are currently available at the factory.

I dont want a 516, at this point I dont want a Sig 556 and here is why;
When you are wrong, you say you are and you make it right.
When you are wrong with a gun irregardless of what the Q/C issue is it was a Q/C issue and something slipped by and someone fired that gun. In essence they ( the customer)trusted you (The Manufacturer) with their safety/life and you screwed up.
I'm sure every person who has ever made a gun has made a mistake, Sig did, they have had time to make it right (by sending a 556 a Month ago) and they cant or wont yet and I think they should just cut the check and do what is right.
 
Hope it works out for you in the end. What are you planning as a replacement for it?
 
I posted here and several other places to include Sig 556 board. I called Academy and sent them a e-mail detailing what I had went through with Sig and C/S.
Two hours after being on the phone with Academy, the VP of Sales at Sig calls me to appologise. He offered to make things right and offered a variety of rifles if I wanted a replacement.
As I stated before, I am not at all happy with what I had to do to get someones attention at Sig, but they seem to want to sincerly make it right.
They offered the Sig 556 in 7.62 X 39..It will be ready to ship in 3 weeks and if I have any issues I am to call the VP right away.
I accepted the offer.
 
TexasRifleman
Repurchasing is not the same as refunding. Unless he gets a court order for Sig to repurchase the gun he's not going to get money from Sig because he didn't buy it from them. You are talking about 2 different things. Also, car dealers are agents of the manufacturer. Very few gun dealers buy directly from the manufacturer, most go through a distributor first. So this rifle has been through probably 3 owners since it left Sig; the distributor, the dealer, and the end purchaser.
Click to expand...

If you are going to reference my post, please reference the entire pertinent subject matter you are replying too.

You forgot to quote that I did make a notation about contacting an attorney….

RETG
Warranties for new items are issued by the manufacturer, not the seller. The manufacturer can be taken to court and if found liable, can be made to pay back the full purchase price. Whether or not court action is feasible, since hiring an attorney will cost almost as much as the price of the weapon.
Click to expand...

So, I thank you in advance; even if I won’t be available to this forum for about a month due to being moved to a temp assignment on the good old southern border of the USA.

In regard to car manufacturers, I did not purchase that Ford product from Ford. Granted, car manufactures (at least US manufactures) do clearly state in their warranty data that they WILL accept a decision of an outside arbitrator (i.e., BBB), so if a customer wins, they have to pay, and there is probably no such notation in any warranty of any weapon.

The majority of car dealers, not all (some are company owned; not legal in all states), are independent businesses that sell a product, based on a written contract between a manufacture and a business. In a sense they are an agent, but that makes no difference if they are not included in the lawsuit, unless the manufacture can get them added as a defendant due to one of those third parties modifying the weapon.

It would still be the customer vs. Sig Sauer, as in my case, if arbitration did not come through, it would have been me vs. Ford Motor Company. In a court case, if Ford thought the dealer had modified the vehicle to cause my problem, no doubt the Ford dealer would have been in the same courtroom. But we are assuming no modifications were made to the weapon that affected its operation or structure.
I still contend since the warranty is issued by Sig Sauer, not Joe’s Weapons, or any distributor or multiple of distributors Joe uses, they would not be included in the suit.

As I hinted at in my original posting, it would be not a smart thing to do in taking this to court, but it is a legal option.

GLAD to hear Academy stepped forward and solved the problem.
 
Me too.
I will take this rifle and run the heck out of it and give you all here a good opinion of what I get.
Thanks
A/M
 
I bought a new S&W scandium 44mag that had several problems with the trigger from the start. It went back to S&W once, the replaced something and sent it back to me. They paid the shipping both ways, and also sent me 200 rounds of federal rounds to say thank you and test fire the gun. another 50 down the tube and it had some more problems with the lockwork. Again they sent me a shipping lable and it went back to the factory. while it was there a customer rep called me and said they found what was wrong and replaced it. I told the person I really didnt want to keep doing this and didnt trust the gun anymore since everytime its been service they keep finding new things wrong. The scandium 44Mag kicks like a mule and I think the original design (I had a two digit serial on mine) or the lockwork material wasnt up to the pounding.
The rep asked what could they do to make it right and I told them to refund my money. They reluctantly agreed and asked me to funish them with a copy of my receipt. three weeks later I received a check forthe full price with tax and everything plus a voucher for $50 off a new S&W handgun of my choice from any dealer.

I used the cash to buy a colt annaconda and the voucher to buy a new S&W stainless revolver a couple months later.

You just need to get the right person on the phone and keep pushing till you get what you want. if you want a sig556, then dont settle for a 516... especially if a 516 is a cheaper model. thell them you want a voucher for the purchase price of your rifle so you can go to a dealer and buy one if the factory cant supply one...
 
I'd take the offered replacement and sell it if your anger doesn't subside.
I also dealt with SIG over an issue once that may have soured me on them forever - which is a shame because the P-225 I owned was an excellent handgun.

Actually - if the 516 is a cheaper model, then I wouldn't accept that. I agree that you should keep pushing until their customer service makes it right.
That's what I had to do. And the rep I spoke with on the phone made the mistake of ridiculing me to his superior without putting me on hold. When he came back on the phone I gave up on being civil. They sent me a replacement gun, which I promptly sold.
 
In the end I traded everything Sig I had and bought a Springfield Armory M1A and a Daniel Defence AR, haven't looked back since.
Much better quality rifles
 
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