Junior tech in a data center was told to install an additional card in a Catalyst 6500 (big and expensive switch). He somehow managed to insert the card upside down by applying unreasonable force and let the magic smoke out. That was a US$ 50k+ oopsi.
I was on the receiving end of a damaged line card a few years back.
It was for a Juniper router and worth US$52,000. I opened the box and almost slid it into place when I luckily noticed the smashed backplane connectors
before I tried to seat it home in the mainframe...
No damage on the outside of the box, so the tech who packed it must have dropped it and stuck it in the box anyway, hoping we could claim insurance from Fedex.
Unfortunately, logistics, in an attempt to save money, only declared its value as a few hundred dollars, so the cost of a new card had to be eaten by my employer ....
Some frantic emails to Juniper begging for repair, but they (understandably) said NOPE! As they were not willing to take the liability and warranty obligations for any hidden damage in a piece of critical internet infrastructure. A single cracked trace or intermittent connection and nightmares ensue..
Could you even pull a 200+ pin press-fit backplane connector from a 15+ layer PCB without damage? The PCB was like 5mm thick!

I have noticed things are declared at much closer to their real value since then.

I bet there were a few spanked bottoms over that one..
