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 (Mick)]

Best just give Andrews a ring Monday morning.

[Poita (Peter)]

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

[casstony]

Originally Posted by dini01

Has any one had any experience with Andrews getting OTAs replaced and do they pay for return postage?
Thanks in advance.

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.