While I agree that with WL "the journey" sux balls, in the end everyone either gets their lasers or a refund. People who have defective lasers can send them back and get it fixed (or, more likely, a new one) although many people have just given up.
I'd be more interested in stories about people who were truly screwed. Everyone knows their customer service sucks and they are slow, but every time I've gotten an email or spoken on the phone to someone they are courteous and professional and DO seem interested in making customers happy.
They're just not used to dealing with this volume. If you are persistent you WILL get your laser or a refund or a repair. It's going to be an annoying journey, but it will happen.
And lets also keep our eye on the big picture - what do you EXPECT in a $300, 1W laser from China??
I have every confidence that, eventually, I'll get my Arctic and if I'm lucky it won't need repairs (plenty of people have gotten lasers that were fine, and we all know that most of the time, people who make the effort to write and shout to the world do so because they are pissed off about something).
Once I get the Arctic I will stick it under the bed and hope that WL goes under or stops making it or stops shipping them here, because then the infamous "light saber laser" will be worth even more