It's not just Remington. All the major manufacurers use automated systems to put together their products. We, the tight-assed public, want everything cheap and plentiful and don't understand what is about to happen because there is not "middle class jobs" now and forever more.
I've seen Wins, Brownings, Savage(not as much) all have problems. For the most part some of the well known European firearms have a higher quality control on just about every operation but they have a different basic philosophy and expect a higher level of personal attention. We have only ourselves to blame.
I won't buy anything except an American made Savage or a Tikka. I just turn whatever I'm tired off into whatever new toy is out on the marker and I want to play with, but that isn't good for the economy because I don't keep my money moving in large amounts.
We want instant gratification, cheap fast food and cars, cheap wine and women (no denigration inplied or intended), political correctness, something to gripe about, and have NO BA**S.
Quality control is set to a certain level and anything that gets out of control and gets out to the public is just fixed without a question. Just about anything you buy now if it isn't right the store just takes it back and gives you a new one as long as you have your sales slip. The store returns it to the mfg and gets a credit, no problem, no muss, no fuss. You are happy as a clam and just about as thinking, many people have low paying jobs handling this stuff, the money flows, and everyone is happy, relatively speaking.
I do think the products we have are a He** of a lot better and cheaper than "in the good old days", but we have found that plastic is better than aluminum or steel, we don't want things to last forever and a day, craftsmanship is something you read in OLD books, who cares...its party time and TV watching or videos are far better than monopoly, chess, playing cards and talking or parcheezy?.
My Rem 700 Sendero is a better product than the 721's in most respects (arguably), I have/had both models, many times. My Savage is cheap and outs shoots, out of the box, most other brands, and keeps turning into different calibers whenever I see that strange looking wrench. (I keep that knobby looking thing hidden).
No matter what the problem was with the Remington neither the customer or the clerk knew what to do or how to handle the problem other than sending it back. It may have been as simple as grinding off the action screw (screw length out of spec, torque wrench out of spec, wood stock turning machine out of spec or synthetic stock mold out of spec) to the bolt lugs not cut correctly, to the receiver not cut to spec. Here again the clerk was probably just that. There to show you something and take your money. Low paid, not trained much, not expected to know anything other than how to work the register and capable of handling 50 lbs, and no reflection on his/her capabilities, that just the way it is. This is our world now. We made it this way, we have to live with it. In time it will change again, and again, and again.
Hey, America is a great place to live, isn't it!!!!