Soltek what you should know

I bought a Soltek easel around July of 2018. I was really looking forward to using the pochade for it’s quick set up time and light weight. But after finally getting it after a 2-3 month wait, I was disappointed as the pallet part kept slipping downward. I couldn’t get the pallet to stay level while painting no matter what I tightened. I couldn’t add paints samples in the box as that weight made it drift down even worse, nor could I hang paper towels off it either. I tried to use this porchade to endless frustration, called Soltek several times tightening everything that they advised- still drifted. After about 4th call to Soltek they suggested I place a tension rod under it to support it- that seemed like a fragile idea. I ended up holding the box up on my knees- during a plein air event to keep it from falling. I had several artist friends look it over that had bought a Soltek in the past- they couldn’t understand why it was drifting as their older models didn’t do this. One lady had the same issue as me, her Soltek was the same model as mine. She was using about 9 huge binder clips to stabilize it. Thankfully Cheap Joes warranted the porchade for a full refund as I had owned it less than a year.