I don't think your post caused any offence Robbo, it was just your oppinion about quality control; which may or may not be correct.

As an engineer I beg to differ. The majority of gear coming from Europe is of very high build quality and the manufacturers cannot always be blamed for faulty components that have been out-sourced. Saying that, they should always take ultimate responsibility on behalf of the customer no matter what the country of origin is, (as Yamaha have done and continue to do with the terrible keyframe problems) claiming costs back from their supplier if possible.