Ok, so I called Alessandro this morning. The guy who answered the phone wasn't as helpful as I would have hoped - he didn't seem too concerned. When I described the defect, he kind of said, in effect, "if it's in the metal, then that's just the way they are," without offering to fix the problem or even recognizing that the problem exists. He did suggest, though, that I deal directly with Grado, since they would have to send it there anyway and it would take longer. I called Grado and was instructed to send them in with a note describing the problem and mention that I had waited a very long time to receive them in the first place so that they don't get put on the back burner. Both the Alessandro guy and the nice lady at Grado suggested that they would most likely swap out the part that has the blemishes. I hope I am not in for another marathon wait - I really just want to start listening ASAP. Thanks for all of your interest and help.