For my $50 I would expect to buy a rod as it was described, especially if I couldn't get my hands on it first. I have purchased decent equipment for much less than it was worth, many many times. If the rod was a tomato stake, as the original poster stated, and that is not what was described, then he got ripped off. And it's not like Marco wouldn't have known better.
As far as not gettiing flamed, you stoked the fire with your original post flaming the purchase as naive...in a inflamatory way.