I find this very strange. I've had no major issues with Sram drivetrains, and we've been through 8 set ups on 10 bikes. The oldest is a set of Red shifters from 2008 that I still run. They work fine. Been crashed several times too.

The only issue I really have is one of the derailleur pulleys on two Red RDs cracked, and I wore out an old Red FD. Replaced it with a Rival and everything was golden.