Have you tried vacuuming/blowing air in the pot? Might be some dirt stuck in there. If not, contact Panda and I’m sure they’ll be able to send a replacement pot or point you in the right direction.
Well aware of that - many consumers want everything as cheap as possible without really thinking about what stuff actually costs in terms of work and materials. This isn’t a mega corporation with access to mass production and a huge budget. Quite the opposite - I’ve put a few thousand hours of unpaid work into this.