I got suckered by Larson's "lifetime warranty" nonsense too.
Here's the deal: I bought one of Larson's midrange storm doors at my local hardware store. I was assured that the expense was justified by Larson's excellent lifetime warranty and sound reputation. Within a year the latch broke and Larson wants $50 plus shipping to replace that part.
Larson doesn't guarantee their hardware and they won't just sell the latch. Customers must re-purchase the entire ridiculously overpriced handle assembly. It's quite a scam.
The latch is the thing that goes in and out of the latch cylinder when you turn the knob, and the latch and seats within the strike-plate to secure the door closed. Usually a latch is a very substantial chunk of metal, since it hits the door jamb every time the door is closed; but there really isn't much to a latch, so it's pretty hard to screw up. Larson managed to. Larson designed their latch as a Y, where the single arm is the robust external part of the latch that hits the strike, while the double arms are internal delicate little things attached on either side of the knob cam. Where the double arms join the single is an unbelievably thin, weak point even if they had used a decent metal; however, they just used a brittle pot-metal cast.
In short: terrible design, worse materials.
One day the damn latch just fell right out of the door, and that's when I got a look at the internals of their handle assembly and realized what junk it was. Scratch the surface, and Larson's design and materials are just astoundingly poor.
"Oh well, it's a hassle, but there's a lifetime warranty. I'll call and get a new one." So I go through their website's ridiculous ordeal of entering all kinds of information and uploading photos and all that crap so get to the end and discover that they don't stand behind their hardware. GAH!
I do understand that they'd be idiots to guarantee that junk they produce, and why should they guarantee that garbage when they can double-dip their customers?
Larson doors are junk and their warranty is a joke.
You've been warned.
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