We know Iain and Natasha of Component Shop very well, and they are two of the hardest-working people you could imagine. Their domain name has several E-Mail addresses associated with it e.g sales@, info@, and every one of these is subject to spammers. I know they have some decent anti-spam software in place but the rubbish still gets through. We get maybe 20 items of spam a day and our software is second to none. The problem is compounded when you have several addresses.
In consequence they have maybe 800 E-mails every day to wade through, many of which are spam and a lot of others are, frankly, unnecessary e.g. "How much is it if I buy two of these and three of those?". I think you'd find the Graingers at SHG would tell you much the same thing about their E-Mail. On-Line Ordering websites are intended for customers to select and order their own goods, by and large without any further assistance from the vendor. That's why they are on-line, after all.
If you have a faulty item then why not just put it into a Jiffy Bag and send it back with a note? That's all C-S would tell you; there's nothing else which could be done, is there? I know that it will be replaced without any argument or fuss, and your postage will be refunded too.
As for "shoddy", you're way off beam - as you have probably realised already.
FLJ