Poor service & support on Russel Hobbs products

I have a Russel Hobbs "heritage" toaster that I bought about two years ago. As it had the "classic" look it was quite a bit more expensive than your standard toaster. About a month ago the toaster suddenly started tripping the power. When I peeked inside I saw that the centre panel around which the heating wire is wrapped had cracked in two and therefore wires were touching the metal body (thus causing the power to trip). As this was not a cheap toaster I emailed Russel Hobbs support ********** to hear if I could get a replacement panel. Multiple emails went unanswered. Called them today and heard this toaster had been discontinued and THEREFORE there were no parts available for it. This is rather strange logic - I would have thought that part should be available for at least 2-3 years after a product is discontinued. Imagine if car manufacturers did this? Anyway, this left a rather bitter taste: (a) product not particularly long lasting and (b) non-existent support.