HOW can components be so expensive, and yet customer service is so bad.

Sorry to hear you are having such bad luck. It is hard to believe some of it isn’t just bad luck. 

High end equipment is normally tested extensively before shipment. With the exception of a Sonic Frontiers CD player which had an unreliable transport in it. I have never had a problem effecting to performance or function of a piece of equipment in fifty years. I have had some components for nearly twenty years. 

Depending on the company, they often rely on dealers as their front line contacts. I have an outstanding dealer. He is there for me and has become a friend. He delivers and installs all equipment and makes sure it is working at optimum performance. So, he’ll set up the sampling rates, and any setting on my DAC, position my speakers, make sure all aspects of my turntable is perfect... etc. If I have a question he comes to my house.

Once a meter wasn’t registering correctly on my amp. So he came over, attempted to destatic it. That did not work, so he asked me if I wanted a new amp or him to replace the meter. I asked him what he thought... he said, "I’ll get you a new one". He actually called the vendor while we were standing there and in two minutes said, "the new one is being prepared for shipment." When he received it, he came over and swapped them. I did not have to lift a finger. 

I can attest to what CDC has said about Parasound, they stopped answering their phones for customers and even sent a terse email saying that they do not have the time to talk on the phone and may not be able to answer any questions via email as they are busy. 

There is a lot to be said about customer support for high end companies after the sale and in some instances its the support that only the audio company can offer.

You cannot beat the phone and email support you get from companies like Balanced Audio Technology, Ayre, Bryston, Wireworld, Rogue Audio, VPI, Plinius, Eminent Technology, etc.

Many of the companies you mention have been bought directly or through proxies by the Chinese and they really couldn't give a hoot about service.

I'm not talking about smaller Chinese companies which usually offer decent service but Harmon et al are the HIFI mafioso.

Reliability comes at a cost of some fidelity. Tubes are prime example. Solid state is much more reliable.

If you want bullet proof amps go with Naim, Bryston and pre Chinese Musical Fidelity. Of course there are others.

Honestly I have perhaps been fortunate and have not had to interact with dealers or vendors for support in a number of years.  

My opinion however is service is not what it used to be in most cases.   The trend is  for things to last for a period of time then replace when needed.  

Best case is to have someone local who specializes in electronics repair who knows what they are doing, but even that is becoming scarcer over time.

Last hifi repair I had done successfully was with Bel Canto about 10 years back where they did a good job of replacing a defective circuit board in an amp I had bought here used.  So there is that.

I also had a local dealer repair a few vintage pieces around same time ago.  That was hit or miss. One repair on a NAD receiver lasted a few months and that was that.

I have also always had good experiences with getting parts for repair from Ohm speakers.  Nothing I know of would make me expect otherwise these days.  Their customer service has always been rated top notch by customers.

Having said that, its wise to manage your hifi investments wisely and accordingly.  I will never spend a fortune for a premium priced  product that I know cannot offer support when needed.

I remember calling Parasound about a few years ago with a very minor problem.  After being put on hold for maybe 5 minutes, Richard Schram himself picked up and helped me fix it over the phone.  Now I need to get my BP-2 preamp fixed and I'm dreading contacting them.

I have a bunch of older Classe equipment.  I remember working with Classe (even when they were part of the B&W group) and getting great service for repair and parts.  Then they got bought by Sound United and trying to get parts became next to impossible.  

And yet, there are still some that have great service.  So I still have hope.  PS Audio, PSB (speakers), Totem, Schiit, and Conrad Johnson I have had stellar service in the last few years.  I called Magnepan in Jan 2025 about the tread size for the speaker connection set screws  on an older model.  Tech support took my info and told me he would get back to me in 30 minutes.  (He laughed when I told him lost 2 in the carpet.).  30 minutes later, he called back with the specs and let me know that 4 new screws would be going out that day free of charge.

I just hope that sooner or later, not only the big holding companies, but others, realize that in the end, good customer service for parts, repairs, and tech support actually will, in the end, improve sales, revenue, and in the end profits.  Why, because we will not just buy from them again, but also recommend them in furture.