That's my point. I see them in webmaster tools. But i don't see them in the serps when i type in the site name. I was just curious anyway. they seem more like a superficial badge of prestige than anything tangible
They appear on the search phrase of Google's choosing. They are certainly tangible but only for sites with authority.
As has been pointed out several times. They have nothing to do with 'authority' and more to do with the way your site is setup In any case, how can you find out what terms will trigger your site links? Edit in actual fact I think you're completly wrong. The only time I ever see site links is when I search for a specific domain name. They never seem to come up when i search for a phrase or keyword (unless that keyword is the name of a domain)
You are the one who is wrong. As has been pointed out more than several times, authority sites are far more likely to receive sitelinks. The search phrase which Google attaches the sitelinks to is usually the company name / website name but can also be seemingly random search phrases, but if you don't have a tonne of authority, the domain is the next best thing.