Well, the wonders of this drama never cease...
I received a call from Wes (Operations Manager, IIRC) from PTE. He asked me to relay my story to him, which I did. He agreed with my assessment. Afterwards, he apologized for my inconvenience, apologized for the way this was handled, and had already rebuilt my turbo at their expense. He was also kind enough to ship it to me at his expense.
I don't honestly know if this thread had anything to do with it, but it's good to see a company finally come around and do the right thing. I'm a Regional Sales and Engineering Manager, and I know it's tough when your company screws-up. All companies screw-up. I've been on the receiving end of those calls plenty of times. How your company handles the bad situation is the key. Their initial response was poor, in my judgement (reference the post above). However, assuming the turbo works well when I receive it, I'll change my vote from "Unsatisfied" to "Satisfied".
...and yes, the first thing I'll do is check the axial play! Won't be able to help myself.
