So the good news- they will absolutely replace. Very apologetic.
on the "TiL" tip: Apparently trees coming down form North Carolina have this issue- has to do with coming from cold to S LA climate and they tend to split. He said they have about 25% of trees do this. Normally they id those trees and they are off to side, said more than likely mine was split further up trunk ( couldnt see without thru branches ) and the split finally made way down to bottom.
Truck comes tomorrow so will be able to get new one at no cost.
Worked out well. Now i move on to reconstructing the handprint ornaments - with duct tape. ;)