Starstuffed wrote in message:
snip
It could be that those who knock Meade are a vocal minority of
unhappy customers who exist amongst a highly satisifed majority. Me? I
couldn't be more content with my Meade product and their support service.

Am I alone?

Dear Martin,

No, you are not alone. I am also a very satisfied Meade customer. Sure,
I've had a few minor difficulties with the two new SCT's I've gotten from
them in the past couple of years, but all problems were easily worked out
with help from their customer service staff. I received a LX200GPS handbox
in replacement exactly as you did with the eyepiece. I agree with you
wholeheartedly about the 'noisemakers'...of course, it could be the folks
that receive 'bad service' (at least according to them) are somewhat less
than polite when they contact a customer service rep.

Dave