Gee, in this regard, I must be the luckiest man alive! Oh, sure, I've had gear that rather sucked, but I haven't lost a cent on any of it. The WORST I have encountered:
Digitech RP-7. One of the few pieces I bought new, and I paid more for it than I should have, in retrospect. The distortion on it is pretty sucky, but I never use that feature. I find the time effects (tremolo, delay, reverb, chorus) pretty good, and I got my money's worth out of it just for the learn-a-lick feature. All metal case has withstood even a Gallien-Krueger 250ML being DROPPED DIRECTLY ON THE RP-7, corner-down, and it still works as good as it ever did. I will probably never sell it, not because it's tones are necessarily good, but because I'd get almost nothing for it, and it's a workhorse. That you can drop heavy stuff on.
Digitech MetalMorph pedal. Way over-the-top distortion, (seeing a pattern here?) but it was fun to play with the "morph" knob. Thing is, it was a freebie. And runs like a top- also about as complex as one. What's not to like?
And I can't recall the third thing. Man, I am forgetful, tonight!
EDIT: Oh, I think I remember- little Behringer board, with 5 XLR inputs. (Don't wanna run downstairs just to see what model it is.) Power supply has four little pins that conduct the current to the unit, one bent over and broke off, trashing the PS- I thought. One day, in a fit of resoursefulness, I cut a straight pin down and stuck it into the PS plug, right next to the broken-off pin. Worked like a charm.
But I still say Ringo is luckier than anybody...