My own fixes take twice as long and usually involve turning it off and on again. Sounds like you actually know what you're doing, fighting with suppliers and all. That has to feel good to finally see it running right.

Missing a key piece" so I should mine my own iron ore too?

Oh the classic warranty website black hole... my trick is mostly just accepting that I'll lose a full day whenever one comes in. Honestly at this point I think my own bad luck is what breaks their uploader half the time. I've started taking the photos, then just staring at the screen for a minute waiting for it to fail. Save everything locally like Caleb said, then you can at least angrily attach them to an email while you're on eternal hold.

My building's elevator gets inspected every month but still breaks down all the time. Sometimes the checkups just feel like a box to tick.

Wait though... sometimes the waiting is the best part? Like you get to really look forward to it and that feeling is its own thing. Not everything gets wrecked by hype.