Firstly can I say that most of us here in the UK grow our tomatoes under glass, ie: in a greenhouse, so the problems with birds etc do not exist.
Secondly, when we do grow them out side we tend to do it in a "fruit cage" which again stops most of the problems you state.
Then you say this :
Maybe and I mean maybe, if you had a completely vine ripened tomato side by side with a tomato picked when just turning color and let it ripen indoors you might be able to taste the difference but I doubt it. If you try to store a ripe tomato unrefridgerated for any length of time IT WILL BECOME MUSHY AN ROT. And it doesn't take all that long either. A ripe tomato in refridgeration will last much much longer before it gets mushy and rots. Have you ever wondered why store bought tomatoes taste like cardboard?
You state that shop bought tomatoes taste like cardboard because they are picked unripe, and allowed to ripen off the vine, if this is the case for shop bought ones, then it must be for home grown ones, or am i missing something in your logic ?
Firstly a tomato ripened off the vine will not taste as sweet, and it will have a tougher skin.
My father used to really have a go at me, I would go along his vines, with some salt and eat the ripe ones, straight off the vines, like apples off a tree.
Yet if my Mother bought some from the shop to keep me away from the homegrown ones, I could tell the difference straight away.
I think the difference is that my Gandparents were market gardeners, they grew all their own food, yes they kept pigs and sheep too, everything was organic, Father and my grandad would not allow any chemicals anywhere near the crops, I spent hours picking caterpillars off brassicas, watering plants, not with a hose but with a can from 1000 gallon waterbutts that collected water off the roof of the house.
We had orchards, and soft fruit. As it was a source of income as well as food, we tended to treat it with care, and respect it, things were always eaten fresh, so I assume I developed a palate than can taste the difference between shop and home grown.