Two comments:
1. Yes, it would have been helpful if their e-mail would have informed you the unit was not repairable. I, too, would have been irked at the same situation.

2. IIRC there have been a number of postings over the years w/ people having problems w/ MSD's Digital 6 boxes. Sounds like they took a step backwards in some way going from the old 6A series to the digital version. Not sure if the Digital 7 units have had similar problems, though.