Dirt, maybe. The screws and whatnot involved are basically new
Florida being, it's not impossible rust was still contributing, but... fairly unlikely. From hearing about it, it sounded like the folks that put it on the first time just kinda' brute forced it with tools that weren't quite right for the job and ended up screwing something up in the process. Go figure, trying to fix the mess ends up twice as hard.
Can't say I'm
too surprised, though. The person that supervised the first go spent most of the time I was trying to fix it trying to get me to use shit that wasn't quite appropriate. Vice grip instead of a proper sized wrench, fixed instead of oscillating handle (which I think is half the reason it's like it is -- they used a fixed handled one to manhandle the screw in the first time instead of, y'know, putting it on right), six point wrench on a (somewhat stripped, I think) twelve point nut, stuff like that. S'like. No, I think I'm just going to walk over and find the right one, thanks. Please stop trying to help.
But yeah, I doubt it's malice. Just folks with more arm strength than sense having their brains a bit cooked in the process. Makes folks more likely to make somewhat suboptimal decisions. Hell, happens to me, too, which is why I started around six in the morning instead of fuck-you o'clock, i.e. the rest of the daylight hours.