No.
I havent heard of someone, that have tried the new life-time warranty.
But under the old circumstances, it worked this way: Under warrenty, take it to your LHS and get a new one. After the warrenty, you'll just take it to the LHS and get a new one for half the price. Usually, they got them stock around here.
Some companies like KO Propo, their support around here are really, really bad. Best case: you only have to wait one month for stuff, that's not stock. And HPI-europe support seems to have gone bad too. A half a year, just to get a rear belt....
Dont you know some electrician guy? Usually it's just the FET's that are gone, and that's a relative simple operation. Sometimes even cheap. I know a guy, who have replaced the FET's in an LRP Sport. Now he's ESC got better specs than a 7.1......