Interesting Update from Remington on Warranty Service Plans

[cargaritaville]

Any thoughts on whether it could be Cogan?...Alabama is centrally located. They definately know the gun.

[margator]

To the best of my knowledge Wilson is in Berryville Arkansas. Had no idea about the deal with Remington....have had an R9 for years and literally just picked up another one the other day. When I went online to purchase some additional mags I found out. I find it very understandable that the brothers sold the business but think it's not been handled particularly well by Remington or Freedom group. Super poor customer service to leave your future customers just hanging!

[JoshA]

Sounds good to me. I will sit tight a bit longer before I start another run at trying to get something done with mine the hard way.

[Rich3006]

Phsimone, what was the problems that the Rohrbaugh brothers was having that made them want to sell the company?   

[tracker]

Not to preempt Phsimone but Superstorm Sandy was one big blow to their factory and homes. Also, you can do the math on ~ 6600 guns sold over a 10 year period.

[heyjoe]

To at least one of their homes, but the factory was fine after Sandy.

[Phsimone]

They were certainly put in a very difficult place financially, between Sandy, payroll, suppliers, rent etc. and limited production. I have the utmost respect for the brothers "R" and do wish them the best in any future endeavors. They created a little marvel. Hopefully one of them will remain on board as a consultant in order to maintain the quality of the finest pocket 9 made no matter whose name is on the future iteration. I have read the other may spend more time in the arts (music). I have owned several R9s over the years and never had a problem with any of them. I am down to three and still take one to the range every 6 weeks or so. Thankfully I do have a few extra springs. I do keep it clean and properly lubricated, even more so now. My only concern is slide pins at this point, I am very careful during take downs.

[tracker]

There wasn't much that was "fine" on the South Shore of Long Island after Sandy. If the factory were left intact no one could come to work because of the devastation. I lived in Long Beach as a commuter for several years and that town was virtually wiped out. Sandy was the beginning of the end for a small business like Rohrbaugh that operated on thin margins for the reasons mentioned by Phsimone.

[the_skunk]

If the R9s were the finest micro 9mm ever made, then they would be fetching $2,000 on bun broker. And why would Remington take on Rohrbaugh's warranty? They got a R51. And their R51 solution was simply to 'Give you a new gun'.

To build a new R51 may cost Remington $150 - but to repair an old R51 may cost $250. If Remington did buy Rohrbaugh, and do intend to warranty the pistol, they will just do a redesign and give you a new one.

[tracker]

The future of the R9, if any, is all speculation at this point. Remington will do what is best for them and for now it appears that the R9 is on the back burner.

[bamboobob]

The future of the R9, if any, is all speculation at this point. Remington will do what is best for them and for now it appears that the R9 is on the back burner.

BIG +1    well put
the "5-12" message has always said "third party" ...for repair

[heyjoe]

the factory wasnt on the south shore. it was in the area of long island ave. the center of long island. i live not that far away, the factory was fine. there was no major damage or flooding in that area. The electricity there was only out a few days and people were able to get around pretty well in a few days after the trees were cleared from the local roads. You cant compare what happened to long beach to what happened to deer park.
 on a personal level for the owners as far as their homes on the south shore by the water of course it was total devastation, but the factory was not.

[Phsimone]

Although Deer Park is located in the center of Long Island and away from flooding and highest velocity winds and gusts and the building Rohrbaugh was located was a fairly stout brick structure it had a flat roof. Flat roofs are notorious for failure during hign wind and rain events. It probably failed. However they would have had insurance to cover any losses I would think. Building Codes on L.I. are not as rigorous as they are in Florida and much of the Gulf Coast. As it has been said with say 6500 units sold over ten years for a gross of around $6,500,000 or about $650,000 per year gross. Lets give them a extremely generous profit margin of 20% that would leave $130,000 profit per year for the Rohrbaugh brothers to share and subtract whatever percentage any investors were entitled to  from that total and you have a real difficult situation. This is just another story of an new business with a great product that did not have the venture capital necessary to keep their costs as low as possible. Much of the parts manufacturing process needed to be in house. No third parties. except maybe grips, magazines and springs, in order to maintain a price point which is competitive with the industry. Once again between salaries, rent, insurance, electric, debt service and investors they had a tough way to go.

[tracker]

Also, taxes in N.Y. are on the high side. The factory was closed for approximately one week following Sandy and wasn't up to full production until early January following landfall on Oct. 29.



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Rohrbaugh / SHOT Show Updates
« on: January 06, 2013, 12:20:53 AM »
Quote
Hello all,

I recently heard from the Rohrbaugh brothers and wanted to update everyone.

Following all the problems with Superstorm Sandy, the factory is finally back to full production as of Jan. 2.  However, Rohrbaugh will not be at the SHOT Show this year, and there are no new products to announce at this time.

I am sure this is disappointing for many of you (and me too), but it's really not hard to understand.  Karl lost his house and his boat in the storm, and others were similarly affected.  This has been VERY disruptive, and they all have been focused on rebuilding their business and their lives.

I know that we all wish the Rohrbaugh extended family the best in getting through this...and they will.  But, the time and effort that could be spent on developing new models has been spent just surviving.

Of course, I will still be covering the SHOT Show -- I just won't be making my first stop at the Rohrbaugh booth.  More on that later.

Thanks,

Duane

[heyjoe]

where did you get the roof failed? the roof didnt fail. the only rooves i saw with damages were where trees had fallen on them. we didnt actually get all that much rain out of the hurricane. the flooding was from high tides combined with surges.

the hurricane may have been the final nail in the coffin financially due to personal loss of houses and personal property, but not the factory itself.  it probably wasnt up to full production because of the personal losses the two brothers had to deal with.  people on the shore lost everything.

yes that isnt a tremendous amount of guns sold over ten years. im sure the profit margins were very thin.


 quote author=Phsimone link=topic=7477.msg83852#msg83852 date=1411919670]
Although Deer Park is located in the center of Long Island and away from flooding and highest velocity winds and gusts and the building Rohrbaugh was located was a fairly stout brick structure it had a flat roof. Flat roofs are notorious for failure during hign wind and rain events. It probably failed. However they would have had insurance to cover any losses I would think. Building Codes on L.I. are not as rigorous as they are in Florida and much of the Gulf Coast. As it has been said with say 6500 units sold over ten years for a gross of around $6,500,000 or about $650,000 per year gross. Lets give them a extremely generous profit margin of 20% that would leave $130,000 profit per year for the Rohrbaugh brothers to share and subtract whatever percentage any investors were entitled to  from that total and you have a real difficult situation. This is just another story of an new business with a great product that did not have the venture capital necessary to keep their costs as low as possible. Much of the parts manufacturing process needed to be in house. No third parties. except maybe grips, magazines and springs, in order to maintain a price point which is competitive with the industry. Once again between salaries, rent, insurance, electric, debt service and investors they had a tough way to go.
[/quote]