ME: Just calling in to check the functionality and recent history of (Redacted) serial number (Redacted) I’ve Been dispatched to service it and the last ten or so reports could lead straight to the problem. It appears to be working with no damage or tampering, And it’s exactly the way I left it a year or so ago.
Call centre: Sure thing! I’ll pull that right up, O.K. it says here that serial number doesn’t exist and never did.
ME: (looking at my meticulously kept records of having installed the device, and having left with it functioning and registered) Perfect I can work with that.
I do pretty solid wiring work, with solder, and rabbit ear slack loops, and fancy electrical tape. Things I install tend to last their life cycle. So when faced with mystery problems like this I tend to trust my work more than the competence of giant corporations. First thing to check in such a situation is the old “fell off the internet so hard it blipped itself out of existence and removed itself from the past as well”.
So not broken then. Something that’s in no way broken but would take hours to “fix” I just replaced it and went on my way. It still sets off my ‘pointlessness spidey sense’ though.