hmmm yea I would check it anyway. But honestly if it was the center pole the unit would normally still light up. Basically the center pole is the positive current and the outside (everything else) is the ground. When that piece is pushed to far down, it hits the outer rim. This of course creates a small short and the unit shuts down.
As for the support, July 9th is a long time. It shouldn't take that long to answer you. Have you checked your spam folders?
You should! If just for the fact that we're all awesome (and we never sleep)