Mold inside the OTA

[dini01]

Hi everyone, I am a newbie to astronomy and just bought a new 10" GSO dob from Andrews (GS-880 Limited version). I set it all up yesterday only to find that inside the OTA there's a serious mold problem. There are white mold spots all around the surface and around the middle and towards the primary mirror there's a large concentration of it (I would say most of the bottom half is covered in this white mold). I only noticed this after shining a flashlight inside. I have read that this could spread to the primary mirror (it does not look like there's mold on the primary mirror looking from the top) and ruin it. I don't think I could reach it all to clean it completely off and I highly doubt cleaning would make it go away permanently in any case because there's so much of it and it has spread all around the inside of the OTA. I just wanted to get some advice before I contact them on what I should do. Should I post it back and get it replaced? Has any one had any experience with Andrews getting OTAs replaced and do they pay for return postage?
Thanks in advance.

[Draconis]

Best just give Andrews a ring Monday morning. :thumbsup:

[Poita]

Yes I would definitely ring Andrews and get it replaced, take some photos so you can email them.

[casstony]

Generally retailers don't pay for you to post the item back to them, even when it's faulty from the start, which I find very annoying. I recently purchased a diagonal from a retailer and they sent the wrong product but did not offer to cover my postage cost, so I won't be in a hurry to deal with them again. Good service = return customers.