some years ago we used to deal with a company named "professional products". they make what some like to call "affordable" sfi dampers. one of the dampers we sold had failed. it was way past the warranty date but i made a phone call to the company and got it taken care of for the customer. they supposedly had some sort of problem on the assembly line for a short run but it was found quickly and corrected. they said unfornuately that some managed to slip past Q.C. we looked closely at the damper and realized how poorly constructed they were. at that point we stopped selling that line of products. since that time i've heard of dozens of those things failing. i'm glad we made the decision we did,early on.
i wonder if the problem with your damper is an isolated incident or yet another failure among many?
unfortunately, defects happen all the time in manufacturing. it's easy to get angry with the company that sold the part, but that anger may be misplaced. call the manufacturer and tell them about your problem. it can't hurt.