Walked through a KC hangar, saw 20 dead scopes on one shelf

I stopped by a repair depot in Kansas City last Thursday and they had a shelf full of bad test sets, at least 20 units just sitting there waiting on parts. Most were the same model with cracked encoder knobs and worn out display cables. The bench guy told me they stopped ordering the OEM flex cable because it costs $180 each and fails again in a year. He showed me a fix using a standard ribbon cable and some heat shrink, said it takes 30 minutes and holds up fine. I asked if the FAA cared about the mod and he laughed, said log it as a minor change and move on. Anyone else seeing these same failures stacking up at their shop?