Radiator fin damage, am I being over the top?

[Drunk SI]

I got my first set of deliveries for the parts for my first loop today and I was inspecting the radiator and I saw what appeared to me to be fin damage,

https://www.dropbox.com/s/wtzrobb4xaryxxr/20141104_123629.jpg?dl=0

I sent scan an email and got this response,

"sorry to hear of your issue, due to the material the radiator is made from being a soft malleable material, It is very common to have imperfections in the fins. This does not impede the performance of the radiator and if we replace the radiator sometimes there is slightly more surface imperfections and cannot guarantee absolute 100% perfect radiators. Please advise what you would like to do with the radiator."

I looked at the box and saw this,

https://www.dropbox.com/s/57efgtysrr72wuz/20141104_142449.jpg?dl=0

that the damaged part lines up directly with a bit where the box has been punctured, now obviously copper is malleable but it probably stands a much greater risk of being damaged when the box has been smashed in. So personally I think I've paid good money for it and they should just send me a replacement and look for a box that ain't smashed in or better yet look at it first and send me a pristine one but I am a noob and maybe it isn't a big deal. Am I being unreasonable?

 

[faalin]

Its just the very top of the fin, get a small flat head screw driver and straighten it back out. The way it is now your going to loose about.0000001% cooling, give it about 3 weeks and the dust on the fins will cause worse cooling then the two slightly bent fins.

also if you want best performance out of the radiator you should put push pull fans on it....tada guess what now you can see the bent fins 😀

 

[Drunk SI]

Yeah... It's minor but "if we replace the radiator sometimes there is slightly more surface imperfections and cannot guarantee absolute 100% perfect radiators" that just annoyed me. I would probably have just kept it if he hadn't said that but I'm going to ask for another one. I bet if I'd done that to it myself they wouldn't want it back so why should I accept it like that when I've paid for it? Especially as the damage does line up with the damage on the box... I kind of got impatient and already sent them an email and said "Copper being malleable it probably stands at less risk of imperfections when the box it's in hasn't been bashed about". Don't want to be a picky customer but I don't like being fobbed off. Used to work in a shop and I always hated it when colleagues would try to obstruct customers trying to get an exchange or refund for any reason at all.

 

[faalin]

its really a crap shoot with getting a new one, how many times well they replace the radiator till you get a perfect one. What happens if the next one has more damage on it? how long are you willing to wait with shipping back and forth to get one 100%


Did you get a large box of items with the radiator? UPS and FedEx are known for not handling packages very well so while the radiator left the store fine something else could have hit the radiator inside the box to do the damage.

Ive had a few radiators where there was slight damage to the fins, used a screwdriver to straighten the fins filled it with water and put plug in one end and an air compressor set to 10LBs. Another I drilled a hole into one of the tubes, little JB weld and good to go. Both of them have been in service for over 10 years with no issues. Both radiators where Danger Den with High fin per inch, the last few from XSPC with low fins per inch have had no issues with shipping damage.