TL;DR: Saw still running, but not for long. Senix is sending me another one.
Got some issues with the saw, some of you might have seen me mention them in another thread. Less than two tanks of fuel through the saw and the oil is turning into sparkly paste - far, far worse than a couple sparkles on a normal break-in. Only time I've seen this before was in an engine which had spun a bearing.
Went to change the oil, and a metal cap came out of the crankcase. Looks like it was the inside of a mounting boss for something that was on the outside of the crank case. Hydraulic pressure from thread locker or something similar built up and busted the back of the boss off, into the crank case.
Lowes side of warranty support was convoluted, but not difficult. Website said for mfg warranty work, call xyz phone number. Call xyz phone number, get a pre-recorded message saying for returns under a certain value, contact your local store. Odd, as the saw was bought online. Contact the local store, they gave me a Senix rep's phone number.
The Senix side of the warranty support has thus-far been awesome. I called the rep and left a message. At this point, I'm not expecting any kind of a response at all, both because I expect terrible customer service, I don't expect anyone in customer service to call me back ever, my cynicism is seldom disappointed, and it's only a day or two before Christmas. I make a mental note to call back after the first of the year, and get on with the holiday fun. Completely blew me away when I got a call today, the first business day after Christmas, from a backup Senix rep. The guy I'd left a message with was on vacation, so they had another guy call me.
I explained the issue, and Senix is going to send me a replacement saw, and told me to keep the old one for parts - bar and chain and such. Teardown and autopsy of the engine may follow.
Serious high-five to Bob and Matt with Senix, solid communication and responsiveness. Replacement saw hasn't arrived yet of course, but assuming that happens, this was fixed perfectly.
Bob says Senix has 40k of these saws in circulation.