John in NM
I saw some discussion of this in a SMC thread, and one of the posters from 2010 did live close by and had been to their shop.

I'm willing to risk the $30, I really like the 9 I've got. If I get the replacement reasonably soon, they'll get a positive note here - which they sorely need

I've seen this sort of thing before, small vendors being too busy to talk to customers. Used to be they could get away with it as long as they delivered, but with all of us hanging around on the web and talking a blue streak, I think there is much less tolerance for it now. Ease of broad communication makes reputations very fragile.