Dark Penguin -that is so true. My tripod buying experience was exactly how Hogan described - just wish I'd read his article earlier on and saved myself a lot of hassle. Then again, my own "Gitzo in the Gulf" experience has been pretty grim from a Customer Service point of view ...
For what it's worth, as Thomas and some others have pointed out, Gitzo and Manfrotto (maybe more?) are now owned by a company called Vitek.