I think that qualithy should mean the same in south africa or in finland.
So what is puzzling is, why when the price is cited everyone are speaking about quality, while when defects are cited the "don't care" thing is triggered ?
You should agree with yourself, Filcos are quality products or not ?
Quality matters or not ?
80$ more are used to have something back or not ?
Yes, on all counts. I can only speak to my experience. None of my Filcos ping (I think I heard my brown's left control key ping very softly once... maybe. not sure). My personal boards are of the utmost highest of quality, and are worth every penny that I've spent on them.
However, if somebody else doesn't feel that way, they should definitely seek a refund or replacement. I believe that most of the time, Filcos are good boards. Like any product line, there are sometimes defective ones that are shipped out. And when they are, then the consumer has a right to have the defective one replaced.
I will say that if I thought my particular boards were defective, I'd seek to have that rectified for sure, and would probably be pretty upset about it. But I also think it's wrong to judge an entire brand by giving more weight to it's defective products than it's excellent ones.
I couldn't care less about who bought a filco, I care about technology and about technology that makes the life better.
That we can both agree on

I'm not used to compare full featured keyboards sold at 130$ with basic ones sold at 160.
By the way I consider durable dysesubbed, lasered and coated keycaps better than cheap pad printed ones, used to become blank in three months.
As you said I'm strange, my interpretation of quality is "unique".. :becky:
The thing that rubs people wrong is that you speak as though your definition of quality and "full featured" and "basic" applies to everybody. Which it doesn't. It applies to you. If people happen to agree, then you have that in common. But don't assume that your view applies to the whole world.
Case in point: All those reasons you posted about why you'll never buy a Filco, those are the exact reasons I went with my Filcos. I agree with RiGs: Sometimes less is more.