stick with OEM every time" is a bit too firm for me. Honestly, a good rebuilt board from a shop that actually tests them can be fine, and I've run plenty with no callbacks. The problem is you can't tell a good rebuilder from a guy with a soldering iron and a prayer, so the $60 you save can turn into a $200 labor hit real quick like yours did. What I do now is check the return policy first, if they stand behind it for 90 days I'll take the chance, if not it's OEM. Your fried board in 4 days sounds less like a rebuilt problem and more like something in the machine cooked it, so maybe check the harness and voltage before you blame the board itself.

Kept the ticket in my glove box for two years like some kind of trophy, and by the time I finally paid it, I had already missed a whole semester. The thing is, avoiding one building turns into avoiding the whole campus, and then you stop checking your school email, and then you're just some guy who used to go there. That parking office had no clue they ran my whole life for three years over eleven bucks.