This is disappointing to hear or even think that the company would in effect sabotage making these things fixable, except at their tech bench.
I love (d) my rainwise stations, two here, one at the airport where the guys love seeing the display from across the room at the clubhouse, and one at a friend's place where he is getting addicted to watching the weather. Yet I have three out in the shed that don't work, for whatever reason. I have had some of the same experience trying to contact tech support. Way back when, a guy there (who has since retired) was a wealth of information and help. Since he retired another pleasant person (Ralph?) was almost always the one to call me back. In the last year I have left maybe ten messages, not one of which has been returned, so I'm not sure he is still there or not. When I called the main number the receptionist said that all she could do is transfer me to the tech line, and couldn't make sure a message got through to them or not.
One of the disappointing things was that I offered to pull the motherboard and send it in, but was told they really wanted the whole unit. Ever try to figure out how to even package it up, say nothing of finding an affordable way to ship it? I was told that there were at least a half dozen versions of the Mark III main board, and I agree that the three I have all look different, and one, maybe the latest one, seems to have a lot of the individual components replaced by a few larger chips.
Other than replacing the temp, humidity and the wind, there isn't a lot one can do.
I see a lot of accessories like displays and such, an occasional computer interface, and so on, but few stations, which seemed to come up for sale every few months on eBay.
I guess that continuing to produce a moderate quality station, one which generally lasts for awhile, is taking it's toll. Texas Weather Instruments, now it seems Rainwise, and who knows what other ones will go by the board. Davis will be the only reliable, albeit pretty costly, advanced amateur station left in a bit, which will be sad if it comes to pass.
The most certain killer for Rainwise will be their continued ignoring of calls for technical assistance or even giving the appearance if you ever did send a unit in for repair that you'd ever see it again.
I'm not sure who it was that bought this once famous time honored company, but I agree with ajay that things don't look good. I hope he can test out the idea that a generic xbee board won't do it, and let us know. Dale