Best and Worst customer service?

That is amazing they would do that after a year.  I have purchased from them before , they were decent to deal with.   Your story says a lot about them.  

And the 20+ year old thread lives on...!

Never never never ever!!!! Call VTL for a repair, you will be told to take your amp apart to show them that it was not modified. Then the woman told me she was going to China for a week and to send her an email to remind her of the conversation we had, then I was directed to the company web site. and was told to download the repair agreement. What a JOKE, THEY WILL NEVER GET A DIME FROM ME!!!!!!

Best I've experienced was by Vlad B of Audio Mirror.

Never had a bad experience, although once while inquiring about service I needed on one of my pieces I spoke with a  connection to well known and respected repair guy and was told my gear was not high-end enough to bother him with it. Not bad service, but instantly deflated my audio ego. Ouch!

Gmosley:  Just curious how you made out, e.g. whether ultimately they (VTL) agreed to service the unit or whether you had to have it done locally.  That’s still no excuse for the gyrations you had to go thru but a refusal to service the item is really, really bad in my opinion.