Rich,
As I mentioned, I don't have access to a digital camera. My 35mm hasn't been fired up for 8 years because of a sticking shutter. I don't travel much any more to justify buying a camera, I am single and don't have a family to photograph, and I can assure you that there isn't anything really compelling in Wichita to capture, image-wise!
With regard to the El Morro pieces, one had a chip out of the outer edge of the balustrade, adjacent to the building, which was about 3/8 in. long and which "bit" clear through the projecting molding edge. The other had a chip out of the outer edge of the balustrade, right where it curves, about 1/2 an inch...again, taking the molding edge with it and making the curve look almost straight.
With regard to flagpoles, railings, etc., I was told in person by Kim and Nancy that these should not be bent back into place because of the possibility of snapping the metal. In most cases, to boot, the bending has caused the paint to crack and flake off.
With all due apology, I don't buy your relativism with regard to quality and price. By extending this reasoning, one could anticipate that anything within a lower price range could be excused for inferior quality. My KC sirloin must be perfectly done, but it's okay to burn my hamburger? A Schaefer pen should write flawlessly 100% of the time, but it's okay for a Bic to write 50% of the time. Etc. $60 to $100 is not a casual purchase for the greater majority of us, and I feel that we have every right to expect top quality for the money. How does one otherwise establish exactly what extent of damage or flaws is acceptable for the price? The pieces can be produced and distributed without flaws. That's why Harbour Lights has gone to the trouble to secure them in custom, foam packaging. Carelessness and mishandling at the factory, and/or ill-concealed damage, don't seem to me to be valid components of the purchase price. I can tolerate micro chips, etc., although I don't like them. I don't reject a piece on that account alone. But when a curved balustrade is no longer curved because someone has knocked it off, or because the mold wasn't completely filled, I don't believe that I have to accept it as the "luck of the draw" and fork over $75.00 for it, while others may be getting an intact piece.
Without any coaching from me, the dealer in Missouri---with whom I have not previously done any business---apparently determined on her own that her remaining pieces had problems. I merely asked her to send a replacement, and left it to her discretion to select a good one. Evidently, she also saw what I was seeing.
When I show any degree of damage to my own dealer here in Wichita, I leave it to him to decide what needs to be returned and what could pass muster. More often than not, he agrees that the flaw/damage should not be passed on to the customer.
