HI Everyone,
I have been using Ghost for about the last 10 years and it has never failed me once.
There are a combination of things which result in failure to restore, particularly when it comes to the system drive.
1) Not understanding the original partition layout of the source drive.
2) Failing to backup and/or restore hidden partitions which is almost always present on OEM computers.
3) Not selecting the correct options during restore, things such as resize, restore MBR, etc.
4) Restoring partitions in the wrong order. Yes sometimes this matters.
5) Booting up after a restore with both the original source drive and the new drive both present at the same time.
6) Backing up to unreliable media such as DVD.
7) Bugs in Ghost.
I'm probably forgetting some as I've been heavily involved in the forums here for a long time and I've seen it all so to speak. But it is hard to remember them all off the top of my head.
Brian has seen even more.
But to keep all this in perspective, let's remember that forums like this are where people come when they are having problems. The vast majority of problems reported here over time have been due to other problems besides Ghost. But Ghost has definitely had bugs, no denying it.
What you don't see represented in the forums here are the vast majority of users who do NOT have problems - they simply don't come here because there is no reason. Hundreds of thousands if not more are people who use Ghost without problems of any kind.
This thread represents a real problem but it does not affect all users though it is easy to think otherwise given the volume of posts in this and related threads.
Ghost has saved my bacon (so to speak) on many occasions and I am convinced it is a great product or I would not still be using it.
There are bugs but the vast majority of problems do not prevent the ability to restore your system and the ones which do affect a very small percentage of the overall Ghost population. Of course I know this does not help those who do have problems feel better. 
My two cents worth.
Allen