Dammit! Melted Rr. Bumper from Exhaust Tip.

I added an exhaust tip that I bought from an ebayer in china. I had it on for about 2 weeks w/ no problems when I decided to take a memorial holiday trip to Pismo Beach. The day after I came back I noticed the rear bumper above the exhaust was mangled. My 1st impression was someone had rear ended me! But a second quick look I realized the black liner right above the exhaust had been melted, yikes ! I'm guessing it happened on the trip back as there was alot of traffic coming back down south & as a result the exhaust tip was at its hottest. I'm writing this to 1st vent a little, then inform(so know one makes the same mistake ), & finally, anyone know if I can get my money as well as the part cost from this product & ebay seller.Brand New 304 Stainless steel Chrome Exhaust Muffler Tip For Toyota Prius | eBay I feel I might have some recourse for the damaged part because the seller is selling a product that is not a proper fit (although he claims it is) for our prius, as it is too short & improperly angled. I have emailed him & have let him know of the problem but he first claimed to not speak English & than on his 2nd & 3rd reply wants to deflect any responsibility, but I think he is willing to give me my money for the purchase of the exhaust back, although that is not clear as well as he is not consistent w/ the things that he says. I'll let you know what happens as the communication continues. Let me know what u guys & gals thoughts are. Here are some pics:

 

Again, here are some pics.

 

Yeah, the 1st pix was to show the reference of how the exhaust looks from afar more than showing the damage. It actually looks pretty good but is hidden a bit because it is too short(about 4 inch from bumper edge, ref. pix #3) & angled up(ref. pix #5). 2nd pix was to show melted plastic. 4th pix (although not noticeable because of bad shot) is to show the melted plastic that dripped on exhaust.
It looks to be an easy fix as I've already researched the part. It's called the rear bumper center spoiler, as there are 3 pieces to the black/grey liner & I need the long middle one. It runs anywhere from about $140-92 depending on which site u go on. Paint doesn't look too bad as the worst area I think I can polish & wax the black away. Main thing is that I need the part.

 

I have an update reply from seller saying that he will refund the cost of his part(exhaust tip-$20) & I don't have to return/ship it back, but no reference to paying for the damaged part.

 

Yeah, that's the next best thing other than getting the part refunded is that know one here at least gets burned figuratively & literally as the guy(ebay seller) seems to not care too much as I told him the error in design & that it is damaging to the car & potentially could be a safety hazard, he told me he took the listing off of ebay but I still see it on there exactly as described when I bought it. This is just one example of the conflicting things he's telling me.

 

Why all the assumptions! If your not sure why don't u just ask? A novel concept, I know. FYI, the exhaust tip does not touch any part of the body part. The tip has about a half inch clearance under the bumper. And because it doesn't touch any part of the body part that is not what caused the melt. What caused the melt is the hot fumes coming out of the upward angled exhaust tip. I know it might be harder to tell w/ the pic. but if u look carefully at pic. 2 it is quite clear by the pattern of the melted away black piece. Also, if you carefully look at the 3rd pic., you'll see how short the tip is. It is about 4 inches short of the end of bumper. I know the stock is short too, but that angles slightly down & also emits the smoke fumes downward whereas with the installed(aftermarket) tip it angles the end upwards, towards the bottom portion of the bumper, thus the hot fumes don't have anywhere to go but directly towards the bottom portion of the bumper, where it was impacted(melted).

That being said, yes it's a lesson learned & I feel I got off pretty cheap as it's an easy fix w/ no paint damage & replacement part costing slightly under $100.