Starter Gear/Flexpate teeth

Exactly what I thought. I’ve replaced a handful or so of starters and never seen the flywheel/flexplate teeth chewed up. But I have seen the starter gears mushed. He ignored that when I mentioned it and said he has “5 years shop experience”. This guy’s argument was that the car manufacturers make more money replacing flexplates then starters so they use cheaper metal on the flexplate. Paranoid I guess.