I am still lost.
Is there Cart's being sold that offer a Manufacturers Warranty that extends beyond one year?
The Cart' is clearly defined as being one year old, what makes this a special case?.
I don't quite see how the Three Month Warranty and the Supplier being contacted 9 Months outside of the Warranty Period, puts them in the position, where rile is being expressed by individuals not effected in any way by this incident.
In this case, with the Cart' being pulled from usage, the Cart' at present has been approx' $150 per hour to use (75 x $150 = $11Kish)..
If the treatment from VAS is accepted by the OP and a 1000 hours of Usage is achieved, that will come in at approx' $9.75 per hour of usage, bringing the original purchase price and usage cost per hour closely aligned. Which as an outsider looking in, and one who suggests Cart's are sent periodically into a Third Party Service for a Inspection and Clean, the $9.75 per hour surely looks like a win win outcome.
If the OP rejects the VAS work, as a result of inherent prejudices for this type of service handling Cart's built by Japanese Masters of the Phono Cartridge and decides to sell the Cart' for approx' $3K and the new owner gets the 1000 hours usage from it, then that is a steal.
A friend got a Audio Note IO Cart' at a real bargain basement price, and a thorough styli clean resolved all issues reported with the Cart'. The Cart' is now after many hours of usage rebuilt by AN. The Cart' cost and rebuild cost are still less that the present market value for the low hours rebuilt Cart'.
Maybe!, if Cart's are being purchased at prices that are going to be approx' $3-$15 an hour to use, if the 1000 hours usage life is to be the guideline, then a extended Warranty to cover wear and tear damages within a few year period of ownership would be nice as an option from the supplier, as not many Cart's put into service will come close to the 1000 Hours in the first year of usage, or in some cases not for quite a few years.