Computer-vendor warranty departments - scrap them?

[dan-dChtYZcB954 at public.gmane.org]

Rich,

 > It's almost never worth trying to fix anything,
 > even if it's only a couple months old and covered by
 > warranty.  If you're pressed for time, is a warranty
 > worth anything at all?
 
 
I think this is true everywhere and for everything,
sadly.  I just replaced a 250W metal-halide flood
lamp because the ballast failed.  Replacing a ballast
is child's play, but an entire new fixture was $66
while the ballast alone was $90.  I wrote the company,
but their answer was half lawyer / half psychologist
and entirely worthless (... commitment to safety and 
exceptional customer value, yadda, yadda ...).

There may also be something that marks you/me/us as
being of some previous generation -- as a trustee of
a fraternity at MIT I can see & say that even today's
MIT freshmen arrive at school never having fixed anything
in their lives.  If those of us who want to fix things
are a declining fraction of one's customer base, why
would a thin-margin supplier bother making it possible
for us to repair anything?  (Independent repair shops,
whether for autos or computers, seem to be slowly fading
away, too.)

I may be turning into a curmedgeon,

--dan