I think Doris is hooking me up big time on my POS Hobo clone. She at first offered to replaced the deck. I replied that I preferred a refund. She in turn replied that a refund would be issued within 48 hours (without requiring me to return the defective item) *and* will include a new deck with a future order.
She also stated they inspected some of the other Hobos in stock and none had the deck issues mine has. So Ms. Nicole, yours may be good to go. Guess I'll go ahead and order the Lancia from China so Doris can toss in the new Hobo deck. I'll say this for FC, the products aren't always awesome but I've had nothing less than terrific customer service.
EDIT: so, since Doris is hooking a brother up, I decided to go ahead and build the Hobo, flaws and all. I double o-ringed the deck to properly align the airflow cutouts. Rocking it in single coil mode on my Sig100 at 35W. I have to admit, the thing vapes great inspite of the manufacturing deficiencies. Massive flavor in single coil mode. It's not hucking fog with this build but it is producing the flavor.