I got you beat, George, I am still pissed off at General Motors for that crappy transmission they put in my 1954 GMC pickup. It was a hydramatic 4 speed adapted from Cadillac, and it sucked. And my fries were cold once at McDonalds...
My work shirts have "old fart" embroidered above the pocket, in red script, no shit. Us Grumpy old men gotta stick together. Because nobody else wants us around.
Where I live, there are still a lot of places that dont take plastic- in fact, more and more. I think they have some sort of constitutional right to demand cash. I bought a bagel this morning in a place that doesnt take credit cards of any sort.
Anyway, while I have no affiliation with Jet, I do own a few cheaper, smaller, Taiwan made Jet tools, and the parts guy has always been really nice to me- he once faxed me a 40 page manual, for an oddball model, before they were online, and they once sent me, free of charge, a new cast iron base for my floor drill press, because the 22 year old who worked for me at the time broke it.
Like any big company, I am sure they have bad service sometimes, and they do sell a wide range of tools, from outright cheap and crummy to mid range in quality.
They have sold literally thousands of tools over the years, and there are a lot of em that they just dont plain support any more- some due to age, some due to companies going broke or changing product lines, some due to the fact they only imported tiny quantities.
For instance, how many of those Urpe 16x80 Tool Room lathes you think Jet sold in the early 80's? My guess would be five or ten, nationwide. No way will you find parts for any of those.