Let me put it this way. If I buy a television set, I don't expect to need to connect to a manufacturer's site before I can watch TV. I certainly don't expect them to lock out my legitimately purchased TV if I happen to takes some action too many times. I'm thinking of this from the point of view of a customer. If I go into a store that sells TV and find out that my TV won't work because I didn't buy it from the right dealer, sure I would return that TV to the place that sold it to me BUT I would never in a million years consider buying another TV of that brand from ANY dealer. Life is too short to deal with that kind of B.S. and as a customer it is not my job to figure out who is selling a legitimate unit and who isn't. There are enforcement mechanisms for that (doesn't the FBI or some other agency assist in taking counterfeit goods off the market?).
But the other issue is exactly what's happened here - a customer buys a legitimate product from a legitimate source and has no way to use it because they are more worried about protecting their profits than giving their customers a good experience. If I open up a brand new product I want to use it NOW, not in two days or a week or whenever someone gets around to blessing my purchase. There have got to be ways to automate this process so the customer doesn't have to wait. And frankly, if legitimate dealers make it hard to use their products, then why shouldn't people just buy a, how should I say it, less well respected receiver that won't give them any hassle when they attempt to use it?
A customer is NOT very well supported when they unpack their shiny new device, for which they have paid a significant chunk of change, and then have to wait some undetermined amount of time before they can use it for its intended purpose. That totally sucks and it ruins the thrill of getting a new device. Plus, the longer it takes, the more angry a customer will get. I doubt that the OP will be recommending that receiver to their friends, at least not as readily as they might have otherwise. If you are a monopoly company with captive customers maybe you can get away with treating customers this way, but it's not something I'd advise for smaller companies dealing in products such as this.
