Swampwalker - good post. However on the last line you state, "Now if you buy retail and don't get the value-added service, its time to take your $ elsewhere." To my understanding, the way dealerships are setup in the US prevents dealers from selling into territories which are not their own.
I doubt many people buy equipment without serial numbers by choice. They are usually tricked into doing so or inadvertently overlook the issue.
Swampwalker wrote: I'm not in the high end (or any manufacturing) business, but I am self-employed. I would guess that those of you who think that they should be anywhere but "on their own" with such a unit have never been a business owner
This comment makes me glad you are NOT a high end manufacturer. If *I* were the manufacturer in question, you bet I would take care of the customer. Also, I would find it very interesting to discover how illegal activities were being conducted using my product. I would even go the extent of designing a system where matching serial numbers are etched into the chassis, main internal component and the rear of the unit.
IF a customer contacted me with a "gray market" problem I would take the unit back immediately because it then becomes a valuable tool in identifying problems within my own manufacturing / distribution process that I as the manufacturer must control.
If I as the "business owner" fail to identify these problems and work to resolve them (instead of ignore them) then I fail all my customers regardless of how they obtained my equipment.