In reply to gcandlin:
yes, probably.
the company i 'rate' most - to get away from the 'trust' word - is Alpkit: i rate them the highest because i feel (perghaps niavely) that they are the company that works hardest to give me the best product they can (and by product i mean the whole thing - R&D, customer service etc) rather than the minimum they can get away with for the largest price possible.
there are other compaines that produce things that i know will do the job, and won't break (DMM, La Sportiva, Berghaus etc), but that is trust in the product, rather than trust that the company has done its absolute best to make that product all it can be, rather than just 'good enough' for what Ballsac needs, and then sold it to me for the minimum price it needs to get to pay for the product, the R&D, customer service, respectable profit etc...
i have no doubt that if i rang Alpkit with some ridiculous demand - like i needed a Kangri tent and a headtorch, but i needed them today, and i'd be passing their factory at 7pm tonight - they'd try harder to work something out than, say, Berghaus, who'd just say 'sorry, we're closed'. they might not be able to, but i don't doubt they'd try.