I wonder if some of the people who are having trouble with the reels are using them like a winch with heavy gear. That is just cranking in against a heavy load, as opposed to pumpimg the gear in like a fish. If you're fishing heavy weight, or big k-fish or divers in heavy current, you can put a lot of wear on a reel pretty quick.

I have about 8 ambassadeurs and have never had a problem with them. I swap out drag washers every few years, and make sure to reduce the drag for storage. I just hose them off, only clean them and lube them about every other year or so. Some of these reels are 25 years old now, and running strong.