Yep, it's a crapshoot. Unfortunately, there are MANY unscrupulous breeders out there, just trying to make a buck. So it falls on the buyer to do his/her homework and find a good one. Unfortunately, so many people aren't sure of what they should even be checking for, and listen to the breeder, who of course says his puppies are great quality, and healthy. I was just talking to a guy that has a Mastiff puppy who has hip dysplasia at 9-10 months old. His breeder told him it was "an excellent quality pup out of champion lines, with good conformation and sound hips and elbows", hich had been "checked". No OFA/OFEL testing, of course. This guy believed a shady breeder, paid his money and got an unhealthy puppy.
It's always a possibility to have problems from litters where the parents HAVE been tested, and the breeders are actually trying to better their breed. Anything can happen. But those problems are drastically reduced when the extra money, time and effort is spent to weed out all but the healthiest of breeding stock.
Again, back to the basis of this thread. I'm sure lots of people have gotten nice pets of the kennel in question. When you have hundreds and hundreds of puppies, you're bound to have lots of customers. Many will be happy. Many will not. Many will be healthy (just like any mutt, or people, for that matter. The majority of us turn out ok, no matter where we came from).
My personal opinion, any "kennel" who always has puppies available is a huge red flag. Any kennel who doesn't test its stock for known genetic problems, and just says "Our dogs are healthy, never had a problem yet", is a huge red flag. Any kennel who breeds mutts and will tell any average Joe who emails that these dogs are registerable (ANY dog can be registered with some of these knock off registries. Means nothing) is a huge red flag. Unfortunately, people see what they want to see, and are often blind to logic when it comes to their pets. The original poster stated she's been to many message boards where people have slammed Flying W. Think of it this way...if you have 30 well educated (on their breed) people who all have the SAME opinion about someone/thing, and several newbies who have bought a puppy from this place and had it turn out ok (and nothing from all the ones who've bought one that has turned out horrible) who would you listen to?
I had a springer spaniel/lab mix once that was the smartest thing I'd ever seen. Amazing dog! Did I go around saying it had no rage syndrome, which springers are succeptible to, and wasn't hyper like labs can be, so therefore it was a better breed? No, I neutered him and enjoyed my awesome little mutt.