I am VERY pleased to see you here Todd. In this day and age, not having a phone number for people to contact you directly is, quite simply, confusing and frustrating.
Having said that, I will admit that hearing both sides of this story once again reinforces my belief that communications plays the major part in a bad experience like the one mentioned here. However, if you are going to be a regular participant of these forums and address any issues that may come up, then I firmly believe that your already great reputation for putting out a quality product will get even better. Quality and customer service are the two things, as you well know, that can hurt a business. As long as you maintain an open line of communication, I would think your product would become even more popular. Not having a direct way to contact you guys, besides email, tends to put off a lot of people.
I, for one, greatly enjoy your gauges. I had great comms with Ryan and, even more importantly, patience. When it comes to hand built, custom made products, if the consumer isn't patient, that will cause the majority of their issues.