I'd love to have a couple of Thinga-ma-jiggers in my garage! I'd definitely have an excuse to skip work then.
Edit: They look visibly warped even when functioning perfectly normal. You got scammed!
those thingamajigs are called torsion bars and if the torsions springs snapped then yes the force would cause he bars to absorb all the energy and warp.....so I do not believe that she got scammed!