Help! Steel Milk Stand Fix - Defective Square Pocket!

[Stacykins]

So when you shell out $400 for a brand new steel milking stand with all the works, you should expect to receive a flawless piece of work, right? Right?!

Apparently, this is not the case in my case. Yep, I hemorrhaged all that money expecting a nice, function stand. But one critical defect has rendered it useless. I'm a little steamed, to say the least. Working with metal is NOT my strong point. But considering that it would cost me at least $100 to send this very heavy stand back, I guess a DIY fix is required.

Here are the pictures. That is a square pocket that is severely deformed out of shape.

Because it is the slot where the headgate for the milking stand fits into it, I can't use the headgate without that square pocket! Without the headgate to secure my fidgety first freshener, the stand is, at most, a nice platform with a ramp. I wouldn't be so mad if it was a square pocket for one of the side rails, but yea, no, it had to be the headgate.

The UPS driver delivered the package very carefully. The man listened to the directions to lay the package flat with the marked side up (I was there to receive it personally). I transported it by sled, flat with that marked side up, to the tractor shed. I only unboxed it today (got it this past Thursday, but I was busy until now). Now I am kicking myself. I already cut apart the box, too, which was a derp move.

How can I fix this? How can I make it functional? What should I tell the seller? I am trying not to compose a "thanks for the crap" email. I will have to cool off a bit. I bought this stand because it was made in the U.S.A., and had good reviews backing it up. The seller did take much longer than originally estimated to ship to to me, but if orders are busy, they I can understand.

 

[bonbean01]

When you pay for something brand new...yes...you should receive one in perfect condition. I find that rather than an email, it is more effective to actually phone them and if you don't get anywhere, ask to speak to the supervisor/owner/manager. If this is a stand up company, they should ship you another one and arrange for the defective one to be picked up when the new one is delivered...hey...right is right....right?

 

[Goatherd]

How did you pay for the stand? If you put it on a credit card you have all the leverage you need. Should the vendor not be a stand up company and arrange to send a new one and pick up the damaged one, the credit card company will go to bat for you.
Even if you're a "cash sale" kind of person, it always pays to put large purchases on a card, especially those that have to be shipped to you.

 

[ZippyTheHappyChimp]

As long as you're aware that those corners that got bent will never be as strong after non-welded repair, and you treat the stand appropriate with that in mind...

A great solution would be a hard metal bar that is small and round, tapering up to the size the hole should be and square. You could then just pound that through with a mallet. If, as is more likely, you don't have access to that, you may be stuck with using a prybar and much prying, or using some other tapered thing to expand the hole back out.

Once the hole is mostly correct, you can either hammer it into roughly square, or just brute force the peg through, letting it shape the hole.

If you had access to a metal worker, they could just cut it off and weld on a new one.

 

[Stacykins]

I do have a neighbor who is a welder by trade, but is currently a stay at home Dad (his wife is a doctor, so it makes sense that he is taking care of the kids). I'm not sure if he has any welding equipment at his house to weld, though. Maybe I'll ask, and provide fresh eggs for a while in return. There is a welding trade school in the city of Escanaba, so I may ask them, too. At least they'd have the equipment to do it. They could probably slice a new piece of steel tube for a new square pocket, and do what you said, just weld on the new piece.

I paid for it with my credit card through paypal. The only way to checkout was through paypal. For such a large transaction, even though I had the cash available, I wanted to have the CC be the source of payment. I wonder if I have the same protections, though, with it being through paypal. It was not an eBay purchase, so I don't have those buyer protections. Until I know what the company will do about this, I won't say their name. For all I know, they may bend over backwards to try and make it right. Or they might not. I don't want to sully their inadvertently.

 

[PattySh]

I have ordered a large item (puppy playpen) and had it come in very damaged. Company mailed out a new one and old one was returned in that box. I sent pics via email to prove the issue. Paypal does have purchase protection. For that money you deserve a product that is not defective. If you try to pull that out I bet you will create a weak spot. Hope the company figures it out if not contact paypal.