It's a shame this is happening and as you said, it's happening to a lot of businesses. Ridgid has worked so hard to get the upper hand with their warranty and hopefully, this isn't a common theme with them. Sucks when a consumer spends all their hard earn money and a company will not back or work with them to resolve the issue. If this is a common problem with Ridgid, might think twice before I invest in buying their tools. Hopefully, it gets resolved but keep us updated.