Vent: a stuck drain pump nut ate 4 hours of my Tuesday in Akron

I want to say upfront that I am done guessing on front load washers. Last Tuesday I took a call in Akron for a washer that would not drain, easy money I thought, pull the pump, swap it, out the door in an hour. Four hours later I was still on my knees in that laundry room because the impeller nut had fused itself to the shaft and nothing I owned would budge it. I soaked it in penetrating oil, hit it with a heat gun, tried a strap wrench, then a pair of locking pliers with a cheater bar, and all I did was round off the plastic housing. The part that burns me is that a $9 nut extractor from my truck box popped it loose in about 30 seconds once I finally got fed up and dug it out. I lost the whole afternoon to pride and I had to eat the extra time because the customer was an older lady who kept bringing me ice water and asking if I was okay. Now I keep that extractor in the top tray of my main kit and I check shaft play before I quote these jobs. So what is your go to when a plastic nut is fused to metal, do you reach for heat first or cut it off and move on?