RYOBI Warranty Fraud, Poor Customer Service Nationwide

In August of last year I purchased a leaf blower from Home Depot in East Haven Connecticut.  The blower is listed right here 

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Ryobi-185-mph-510-CFM-Gas-Backpack-Blower-RY08420A/203312654

"Best of all, Ryobi backs this blower with a 3 year warranty so rest easy this blower is guaranteed to perform."

Well here we are less than 6 months after the purchase and the blower no longer works at all (after being used a mere 5-6 times in total).  I contact Ryobi customer support first, which they make extremely difficult to begin with.  Their online customer support is useless, and after waiting on the phone for an hour got a customer service representative that walked me through "trouble shooting" steps.  After it still didn't work her answer was "Talk to Home Depot."

Home Depot said they only take items back for 30 days, and after that is up to the manufacturer to honor their warranty.  Well after contacting Ryobi again they told me I would have to take it to the WALLINGFORD Home Depot (which is an hour away from my home) despite having purchased it in EAST HAVEN, to see if they could "fix it"  I spoke to Home Depot who told me I would have to "pay for the repairs."

I have pretty much accepted that I lost $199.99 to Home Depot and Ryobi, two massive companies who are taking advantage of consumers.  I even proposed returning it for a store credit to buy a better brand/model and Home Depot said no... and that I need to speak with Ryobi and they "might give me something."

Very disappointed.