Sure, if your $1200 cans sound a bit off they will be shipped off to Japan for evaluation. As long as the customer is happy.
More credit to techs? I'm the guy that defends our tech and support department to S&M for the crap they get and don't deserve from cutomers who think the world spins around them. There isn't a problem with their attitude, there's a problem with the guidelines you mention that are (at least in a consumer environment) largely drawn up to decline warranty claims as the customer isn't always (ahem) honest about what happened with his product.
If a tech goes beyond those guidelines and he's actually doing a really good job in favor of the customer then S&M has a problem with it.
On top of those guidelines the techs have to meet certain quota on a monthly basis that is more quantity than quality related. But it can be worded differently: the amount of satisfied customers is more important than how satisfied these customers really are.
That pretty much describes the stressy environment a technician or support has to work in these days. Sales is the only thing that counts these days. Numbers and charts.
Although I'd like to think about quality and service like you do I can't help seeing that it's a thing of the better part of the last century.
That said, I know more than enough small companies that are still able to deliver quality.
I'm also very pleased with the contacts I had with support teams from some smaller Internet vendors I had contact with for private purchases.
Some even manage to make the whole experience a joy.