Any way you look at it, it's a crap shoot. Some of us seem to be luckier than others.
Agree. All you can do is play the game with the best odds. It's interesting what affects the odds, or at least what people perceive as contributing. I used to take visiting engineers/mgrs from China shopping. They wanted Iphones, Levi jeans and Coach pocketbooks. They were absolutely convinced that these companies, (all "Made in China"), sent the highest quality products to the US, and sold the lowest quality inside China. They were also amazed when we went in the Apple store, bought an Iphone and left without turning it on to verify it worked. They said they would NEVER buy any kind of electronics at home without turning it on and "testing" it in the store.
This was all very interesting to me, as these were professionals, and knew for a fact that the geography of the customer made absolutely no difference to us on our mfg lines. In fact, the mfg operators don't even know who the customer will be. All customer/shipping labels are applied in the warehouse after the product has left the mfg line.
Convenience has more value to me as I get older. It is why I like to buy new, from a brick & morter store if possible, with an extended warranty. If there is a problem, I like to simply call and have them send somebody out to handle it. Lazy... yes. More expensive... yes. Convenient... yes. (That said, I have Aperion, Rythmik, Emotiva and Denon... all bought online due to advice on this forum.) So far, so good.