true. On the one hand, stainless is considderably more expensive than the other options -if you paid for it, you should get it.
Now, that being said (And in truth I have no idea what a crankandstein costs -I purchased a barleycrusher and have been perfectly happy with it, so I haven't researched any others) if it didn't kill the budget, ultimately you aren't about to wear the beastie out in your lifetime (not doing hombrew, anyway) and only you will ultimately be able to determine if its worth hanging onto or not. Though you lose absolutely nothing in asking him to explain your findings, hopefully it will resolve in a way satisfactory to you. Nothing galls me more than buying equipment and finding out I didn't get what I paid for (unless -and it happens so rarely- what I got was actually an upgrade -that HAS happened before, and in that case I called to see if I was going to be asked to foot the higher bill, and was told 'no' it was shipped because they didn't have the lower priced gear that I'd actually ordered -I did the happy snoopy dance. )