You know, that's crappy and I think you should keep bugging them about it. Ask if they believe in their products and stand behind the quality of them. Tell them you're not asking them to rope the moon for you, but rather are making a reasonable request because you got an item in a substandard condition. If they say no, tell them they just lost a customer.
You know, I bought a bag from Linea Pelle's closeout sale, and it said it was also final sale, no returns, yadda yadda yadda. I received the bag a few months ago, glanced at it quickly, and tucked it away for school. When the semester started I took the bag out, only to notice that the bag was missing two rivets. I e-mailed them just to let them know, and they apologized, but I had told them it seemed only cosmetic and I wasn't interested in returning it. However, after 4 days of use I saw that one of the missing rivets wasn't cosmetic; it was putting too much stress on the stitching and was coming undone. I e-mailed them again, telling them how disappointed I was.
They wrote me back and told me that it was not a good depiction of their quality (which is true, I absolutely LOVE my other LP bag, the flaw was obviously a fluke), they said they were sorry and were going to send me a new bag for free. They gave me several options of new bags (though they are "samples," they are still more than a fair replacement because of how cheap the sale price was of the bag I ordered), and they shipped the bag that same day, no arguing or humming and hawing.
Now THAT is customer service. I was worried about ordering from LP again, but after their service and polite e-mail correspondence, I can guarantee to be a returning customer and feel good about giving them my money. THAT is how you keep your customers. They didn't have to give me a damn thing, because I also bought that sale bag as a final sale, no returns, etc. But they cared enough to back their product and keep me around.
And it worked, because I
will be back. They lose more by losing a customer than arguing over a cheap bag.
Oops, sorry this is so long!