Wow, I wish I lived in a world where I could give people advice like "drill a hole in your head tube" with absolutely no accountability... It would lighten up my schedule a bit.

"Oh, sure, you can cut that out yourself. There's a blood vessel here and a nerve here, so watch out for those. Otherwise it's a chip shot."

Either the guy will stop blowing you off and give a refund, or you'll do the small claims thing. Don't ride it, don't drill holes in it. You mentioned earlier in the thread that it wasn't worth the risk, and you're absolutely right.