My first experience opening the box, found a black plastic piece that was broken off the top of the stand. My husband felt that once put together it would be difficult to see the imperfection and would most likely not affect the functionality overall. He kindly put it together and I really like the orange umbrella and the span it covers. I will note that due to the weight of the umbrella, the stand must be weighted done, or it will fall over. Currently we are using 3 large pavers stones to weigh it down. This was an issue with our previous umbrella that was designed in the same fashion. We have only had the umbrella up for one day.