To clarify, I wasn't intending to equate what WD are doing with theft. I was looking for analogy to illustrate the failure in trying to do something bad, trying

To clarify, I wasn't intending to equate what WD are doing with theft. I was looking for analogy to illustrate the failure in trying to do something bad, trying to do essentially the same bad thing but to a slightly lesser degree, and then pretending that admitting to this makes it somehow better while you're still in fact doing the bad thing. I think "left some information out of their datasheet that is relevant" is being rather kind here. They were advertising these products for one specific purpose, and the change in spec makes them unsuitable for that purpose. They then tried to upsell to a more expensive product that retained the original spec and was still presumably suitable for that purpose in their initial non-apology apology. I understand the mechanics of how this can happen, but the fact is that this isn't the customer's fault. It's a failure of basic management and leadership skills, and criticising the company for that is entirely fair.