I don't want my posts to come off like a rant or a bash. I am surprised and disappointed. But not so much because they didn't ante up on a replacement damper. But because it failed so quickly and they are not interested in why. Had they of wanted it back for inspection would have gone a long way with me to indicate that they cared about the product. And had they offered some modest amount of help (should they have determined that the damper failed and wasn't damaged by me) would have gone along way toward making this repeat customer feel like I had value.
The lesson here is about quality control and customer value, not extended warrany. While I am not a large volumn customer, 440 Source would have been money ahead with me to have been interested in the reason the part failed and to have written off a small amount of money to keep this repeat customer. That small effort would have bought a good vendor review here for their customer service. But I still would have advised other owners of their dampers to look them over. Dampers are not an item I have ever been inclined to inspect regualarly. And I wouldn't have caught this problem if it wasn't for the rust poping the paint off enough to get my attention.
To be truthful, although the price was attractive, I didn't think this was an inferior piece due primarily to the SFI certification. While I understand the limits of that certification, I guess I thought that it would indicate that the damper was on par with it's more expensive counterparts.

Now, which damper would you recommend to replace this one on my 500" RB that sees about 6,200 max and gets a little street time?