How do hydraulic flat tappet lifters fail?

Comp Cams, here lies the problem.
I have heard that a lot, but my experience has been decidedly different. They are (were) a sponsor of our off road race truck and have been nothing but fantastic for us to deal with and always (except the one failure in my personal vehicle) provided a great product. I also believe they are one of, if not the largest aftermarket supplier of camshafts and do have failures but if you look at the numbers, failures vs successes, you might be surprised. I attribute a LOT of the flat cams to improper break in, wrong oil, low quality machine work, and or owner negligence. But as always that is my opinion.