Well, that's a valid point, but if you look at e.g. Poland, even that there are three repair centers there, there are places in there that are much (2x) further away from a service center than the drive from Slovakia to Budapest.

One thing I don't understand is why the author doesn't just use the legal provisions of statutory warranty. Any cost of delivering the faulty items to the seller are on the seller, not the buyer, in Europe in general.