Boy, look at all the haters who wish they thought up the business model that Sparkfun did.
Sorry, but if their service and pricing was as terrible as all the anecdotal evidence being presented here .... they would be out of business, not becoming one of the largest electronic hobby-level suppliers on the internet (which they are heading towards). It doesn't matter if you are selling tomatoes or transistors, if your service is bad and your prices are not competitive you will go out of business, not grow every year like they have been doing.
I have no affiliation with them, I am however a customer that has had nothing but perfect service (no components failed) and if you watch for when they have their sales, you can get great prices on things. In fact, I have seen them extend their sales for people who asked in the forums even after the expiration dates. Doesn't sound like bad customer service to me.
If you think sparkfun is expensive, what do you think of these guys then -
http://www.acroname.com/robotics/parts/R272-LCD03.html - 56 bucks for a 20 X 4 LCD. You have got to be kidding me.
Oh look sparkfun has the exact same thing....for $17.00.
http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=256Point being, everyone is in this business to make money. Shop around, get the best prices, just like anything else. You may pay a little more for convenience from Sparkfun, but there are plenty of people trying to cash in on the booming electronics hobby business that have prices that are significantly more inflated than Sparkfuns and who appear to be out to take advantage of the inexperienced or lazy. SF isn't always the cheapest, (surplus houses, ebay and china will always win in that department) and they aren't the most expensive either, and ANY business no matter what they sell is not going to have a perfect transaction record.
Y'all have a lot of ideas about how to run an electronics supply business, so why don't ya start one and put them out of business?