Quoted from NimblePin:

Several things actually.
Everybody’s heard of Costco right?
They take pretty much everything back.
If you’re not happy 100% with a product they sell, you can bring it back, even without the original receipt, and even if it’s past what the manufacturer deems is “too late.”
It’s just how they roll.
Sooo,
Since I thought I was a “good” customer in JJP’s eyes being said early supporter in giving him not one, but TWO games worth of money before even seeing my first game, I thought my request did seem simple enough.
If he really cared about keeping me a buyer of his future games, he could’ve told my local distributor to switch out the machines (since the Smaug was technically a higher value game at the time.) and replace it with a Black Arrow edition when they were ready.
The local distro could’ve easily sold a sub 50 play Smaug for $7500 to any of his/her clientele (since they were still a scarce item) and I’d have the game I wanted the whole time.
But that didn’t happen.
I got to do ALL the legwork on selling my game (which I did...) and still never got the factory updates/fixes that went on the later models before the game sold.
Could I have used the $$$ to buy a Black Arrow edition? Sure.
But,
Why bother continuing to support someone that doesn’t seem to want to keep you as happy as possible in the first place?
(Especially after helping them literally start up a business?)
Plus,
It doesn’t matter which industry you are dealing with.
People send back food all the time in restaurants because they weren’t happy with the final product.
Stern (for example,) learned their lesson the hard way with GB and still took care of people’s games.
Even the vocal KPG got a new populated PF.
Some even got brand new machines.
It’s all in the eyes of the beholder I guess.
The good distributors will have your back most of the time but, since I went with JJP direct on both games, my “guy” was less than helpful in my case.
Good customer service/relations keeps people coming back, period.
Yes, even if you (the manufacturer) decide to keep raising prices for no apparent reason.