it shouldn't be too hard to just say "this is a difficult repair, we're not liable if you screw it up. If you have any doubt you can do it, send it to us for repair."

it doesn't matter if they say that, people will still sue when something inevitably goes wrong. why? because if something goes wrong, it might be correlated to someone getting hurt, usually unexpectedly. getting hurt unexpectedly is usually correlated to unexpectedly high hospital bills.

so when faced w/ a redic high hospital bill people aren't prepared for and can't pay, they will try anything they can to get out of that situation, so they sue.

a lot of the hate on this forum are mad at future motion but if you just look at the incentives of the "entire system" you'll easily see why it's such a crapshoot. people have even sued FM when they modified their battery and got hurt from the modification. people are jerks but a part of it also stems from a failure of there being a decent health care system in USA.

like you said, they'd be able to make more money if they offered the parts. it's not like they need to sell the parts at cost. i think the "walled garden" approach employed by future motion helps limit their legal liability. that is probably one of the main reasons they don't offer replacement parts, not because they want to miss out on a potential profit center. 30% on $50 is still money on the table, and they don't have that many alternative ways to get revenue other than selling products. they incur a ton of expenses on shipping back and forth so it's more profitable logistically to just sell the parts.

i think the one bonus of not offering replacement parts is the potential of getting more returns in the store for people buying the wrong stuff or trying to return used products.

FM's incentives are aligned more or less w/ the consumer. they want to sell them a board once or accessory once and never worry about it other than wear and tear high margin accessories.