I don't want to out the name of the shop, because it's a shop I've dealt with for years for vintage bikes, enough to know that they would not be outright dishonest. I suspect someone made a mistake and didn't realize it. I've made enough mistakes in my life to know that your memory can sometimes just be outright wrong. (tbh, anyone in Seattle could probably guess the shop just by my description)
I have a statement and photographs from the seller that the seat tube was not damaged when the bike was sold two days ago (the last possibility I was keeping in mind was that I somehow missed the frame damage and my prior photo was somehow perfectly lit to hid the crimping). I'm going to go to a frame shop tomorrow and get a quote for repairs, and hopefully get a statement that this was very likely caused by a repair clamp. Ideally I'd like to get the repair costs covered, but it's not like I have a video of someone in the shop wrenching down on the seat tube or anything.
E) just a quick question: would clamping the frame without the seat tube in place potentially make it much easier to crimp? Just wondering because the main reason I took the bike in was to get the post greased.
Last edited by sheddle; 09-20-20 at 10:57 AM.