I have a cordless tool combo pack. I really like all the tools and everythig was fine for several years until a week or so ago when the battery charger stopped working. That sucks, but it has a lifetime warranty, so it’s a fairly minor hassle. I contact the Mfg and they tell me to take it to their “authorized svc vendor” which is not exactly around the corner. I take the battery charger and both my batteries (because one was on the charger when it puked and I wanted to make sure it was OK) to the svc company which is to say the place that is authorized to ship it somewhere else. Can they ship the fixed or replaced parts back direct to me? No. I have to come pick them up in about a week.
Well I go and pick them up today and that little voice in my head is telling me to check everything before I walk out of there, but the place is kinda busy so I leave. Get back home to check things out and I have two new batteries and one original Charger which still does not work. WTF. I mean really, I brought the stuff in because the charger specifically was not working. I told the guy “The charger doesn’t work, but the batteries are fine, I just brought them to check” How was this not clear? Now I no doubt have to go back there and do the whole drill again. This should not be this hard.
Why do simple things need to be so hard?
We want everything cheap as possible.
We refuse to pay for service.
The cost of making things “Simple” is in the service aspect.
I would guess that it costs less to make a new charger and two new batteries when you make 10K of them than to have a store to service your area and the few people that come in with broken units.
It is however also cheaper to NOT replace them at all or to have one centralized location checking ALL the broken stuff in mass.
So you make it difficult to return the stuff with a lifetime warranty so many people just say “Screw it, it’s easier and cheaper to buy a new one”. Those that do send it in get it run thru a “Mass” replacement campaign in which it’s cheaper to just replace it than to actually figure out the problem…thus you get two new batteries when you should have gotten a charger 
~Matt
On a similar, although slight off topic note, I’m thinking of starting a web site called “Obsolete replacement parts”.
I recently had a roller in my dishwasher break. It’s about 5 years old and SURPRISE you can’t buy the roller anymore. The only way I could get the roller was to replace the ENTIRE upper rack at a cost of 120$. I ended up buying a “Current model” and making the center part, the part that was different, to replace it. Total cost, 3.95$ plus shipping and 20 minutes in the shop.
I figure this type of thing has to happen all the time to people. So someone sends me something they need made, I make 10 of them and put them up on the web site
~Matt
Similarly, I had a bad experience with Bob’s Discount Furniture. Cute commercials… bad service. I bought the ‘extended warranty’ from Bob’s for 2 rooms worth of furniture… Dining room and bedroom.
The promise was, if ANYTHING happens to the furniture within the first year, it gets FULLY replaced. Once. Here’s the rub. Their inventory changes so often that after 6 months when the drawer broke on the dresser (they sent me the wrong replacement part) and the varnish cracked on one of the dining room pieces, they didn’t have the same stuff anymore. So in lieu of a new piece, they sent a repairman, who was unable to fix the problem with the dining room furniture. Final result: Bob’s gets my warranty money and I get… nothing!
I’ve always heard that extended warranties on anything were to be avoided at all costs. There are always loopholes that prevent the companies from honoring them.