Velobuild VB-R-086 D fork - should I be concerned? I think so

[tthome]

Thanks Admins for approving my request to join the forum, I'm a long-time Chinese frame user (DengFu / Hongfu / TideAce)- 

So I pulled the trigger and bought a Velobuild VB-R-086 Disc frameset (wish it wasn't BB386 now knowing what I know) - anyhow, I received the frameset yesterday.  The order to delivery was fast.  Ordered on June 22nd, received custom painted frame on 7/5 so happy with that.  My concern(s)...the fork came without the little hydraulic brake hose guide and the fork steer tube looks to have some filler at the junction of the steer tube and just above the crown race taper.  It's obviously been filled and sanded by hand as what I see is not from the removal of the mold.  I'm very much worried about using this fork seeing the filler and the very rough sanded area.  Thoughts?  Attached is a picture of the filled in area and a link to a little video that I took of the area in question - https://photos.app.goo.gl/CUQzfoukfBAs2sQo7

The paint, eh, wasn't really Chameleon purple, it was more just metallic purple.  The "D" shaped seatpost definitely has been inserted in a the frame (or another frame) as some of the grip paint had been clearly scratch off the backside of the seatpost.  All-in-all, not the best first impression from Velobuild to be hones.  I'm missing the fork hydraulic hose guide, the paint wasn't exactly as I had seen in other pictures, and the fork is very much a concern. 

Again, thoughts on the fork and any experience with Chris on getting this resolved or replaced?  Chris has been good with communication and promised to send out a hydraulic cable guide as soon as possible (via China, could take weeks).  He said the fork was normal and ok - but I disagree - I've never seen a fork look like that from any of the other suppliers or name brands - this looks odd.

[St0mpB0x]

Looks very much like they share the fork with a frame which uses internal headset routing and they have just filled in the routing port. Not a good looking solution 

[Irideslowly]

I might sound like a broken record, but recently, velobuild has been sending out horrific products. It seems like they cannot handle their increase in business, and are skimping on QC.

[RDY]

I think hand sanding is being very generous ... that looks like someone using a dremel, or other kind of powered sander with no skill or care.   Scoring is much worse by the look of it than around my top headset bearing seat and top of seat tube, and in a much more critical area.

Yes you should be worried IMO.

[Kirkspants]

I second the last two replies; I'm not willing to bet that was an intentional hole, like the patches you'd see on the insides of carbon hoops where they removed the bag. This looks a lot like "Oh crap we have a huge void; slap some bond in it and ship it!".

[Gianpy]

Hi,
same thing for my VB086 received less than a month ago.
I also thought it was a reused fork with internal routing.
Mine, under the chosen blue metallic paint, had a coat of red paint. 
For the routing of the hydraulic brake hose I used a magnetic probe and with a little effort I managed to get it up.
The fork hasn't broken yet!