Am in the same boat. DDD at L4-S1 and have been "evaluated" by Bertagnoli and given a quote of almost $45k. These are the first concerns I'm seeing about B being a "factory" and am equally concerned about the issues of 1st gen vs 2nd gen products. Whereas before I was ready to jump under any German scalpel I could find (I've been researching this for almost ten years and B and Z were the only ones doing it back then), now I think I'll continue my research and look into Boeree and Clavel.
Also Ben