2. There are manufacturers who replace defective wallets only if you send them the defective wallet first.
I don't have answers to the questions like:
- Who pays for sending out defective wallet?
- What happens if you discovered it is defective AFTER you set it up with your seed, and cannot wipe/reset it?
- How long does it take to send it to manufacturer and get replacement?
But these questions must be answered BEFORE you buy the wallet.
Those are good question. Established company should already have answer to 1st and 3rd question, while small/new one force you to ask their customer service. As for unable to reset/wipe the device, all you could do is moving your coin to different wallet with different seed words.
3. There are some wallets which you can order solely from Asia. If you don't live in Asia yourself, it may happen that customs in your country is suspisious concerning parcels from Asia (I have heard it is so in some contries). Then they may unpack your wallet to check what is inside the package. And you may never feel secure if you receive the wallet that was unpacked.
This part could be avoided if there's authorized reseller of certain hardware wallet which resides in your country or outside Asia.