Beware - poor warranty customer service

I purchased one of these in February because I previously had a Breadman that was wonderful but I liked this new design.
I went to make a loaf last month and it made this horrible grinding noise so I quickly unplugged the machine. I found that the machine seemed to function properly but the mechanism on the bottom of the pan that turns the kneeding paddle would not move. A waste of good and expensive ingredients I had just put in the pan.
Salton's customer service hours are only Monday-Friday 8am-5:30pm Central time so I emailed them regarding my issue.
Long story short - many emails later they finally responded that they were shipping me a new pan. I anxiously awaited as did my staff who had been reaping the homemade bread rewards each day.
Finally after a month - I did receive a package from Salton/Toastmaster but it was not the pan but only the paddle that goes inside the pan.
I contacted them again and finally the pan did arrive. When I went to make my first loaf once the ingredients were mixed the resistance of the dough caused that horrible grinding noise to start again! This time I was able to complete the loaf but had to listen to that noise throughout all the kneeding cycles.
I emailed Salton again and explained the situation, what the pan was doing and the troubleshooting I had attempted. Finally 5 mails and a week later they wrote me and told me I could ship the machine to them and they would have a technician examine it. So after a month of delays, faxing my receipt twice and also emailing it and receiving the wrong part I'm supposed to find the shipping materials, pack up the machine and pay to ship it to them - which for the size and weight is not cheap!
I expected a company like Salton/Toastmaster would stand behind their product and provide much better customer service than what I have received. I wish I was dealing with Rival because their customer service and promptness is outstanding.