No surprise to me. I have bought a Manfrotto 502 head. One of the screws was installed wrong. I contacted Manfrotto and they wanted me to pay for shipping both ways and would not say if they would pay for the repair. I called B&H and they paid for return shipping and refunded my money no hassle. Props to B&H and Shame on Manfrotto
When the mid brace connectors are set at different lengths, the tripod can't close. It was my undue force in closing it that broke it. This force is leveraged when the tripod is almost closed. I personally don't think this was a good design.
