If your talking about scubapro it has long been the official policy to only provide free parts for regulators bought from authorized dealers as long as the regulators is SERVICED EVERY YEAR for the original owner. Many of these dealers charge upwards of $100 to preform this service while changing out parts kits with a "retail" value of $20-30. The problem comes in if someone skips a year for some reason, maybe they did not dive that year, or maybe they are a serious diver with mulpitle sets of gear and never used that one. Having said that there are a number of scubapro dealers that I have dealt with (even worked for a couple) that were very lax on the whole process and through various dealer/scuba pro rep relations were able to get away with it. So in the real world a lot has to do with your relationship with your local SP dealer, and their relationship with SP when it comes to the "free parts".
