There is a big difference between 'defects in workmanship and materials' and normal wear. Any machine will wear out and better to maintain a pump than have it quit when you need it most. No point phoning for warranty service at 3 a.m. on a Sunday with a flooded basement.

I agree parts do wear out. However, in my case, my sump pump only comes into play two or three times a year. I still think it is wrong to claim it has a Full Lifetime Warranty without mentioning the fact the "Suggested Maintenance Schedule" is required to satisify the warranty.
They also state the parts replacement should be performed by an authorized service person. This would mean I would be paying more for the required maintenance (I may not even need) than I paid for the pump in the first place. This just does not set very well with me. Charles Ranheim

The Ridgid SP-500 uses the same top switch as the Campbell Hausfeld model 50CHF. I've had both of these pumps and both have had the top switch wear out on me after 12-18 months. The switch fails such that the pump will either not switch on (luckily has a watchdog installed) or will not switch off (risking burning out the motor). I wrote to Ridgid last time and they sent me a free replacement. Today I have another failure. I think it's time to shop for a pump with a more reliable switch. I don't like pressure switches either since the diaphragm wears out causing the same problem.

My plumber friend told me not to buy a rigid, said their best pump was not as good as the cheapest competitors model. I thought he was exagerating, so I bought one, paid over 300.00, it stopped turning today, 13 months later. I reconected my 7 year old 120.00 mastercraft, tomorrow I will go to home depot to exchange it for an other piece of crap. The moral of the story, dont buy a sump pump until you talk to someone who installs them, and listen to what they tell you.

i have a rigid sp-500p pedistal sump pump, the switch was not shutting pump off when crock was empty. home depot doesn't carry replacement switches. so being in a bind i went to my local hardware store and the guy told me to use a switch off a wayne pedistal pump part#56396 for $18.99. got home pulled off the old switch. guess what? it was the same identical switch. wayne parts are easy to find around here. so i hope it will help someone else out too!

I also had a problem with my SP-500 after about 2 years. I found the pump running continuously. I had to go out and buy another pump because I couldnt wait until rigid sent me a new switch. I bought a watchdog backup sump pump system and seems to work fine. Now I just use the repaired rigid as a backup to the backup.

Here is a link that might be useful: 12v sump pumps