Received a call from the production services manager earlier who said that he had spoken to the store manager and they are crediting back my charges, including a charge for changing out the supply valve.
I hadn't thought of taking a picture, but thanks to the request here for photo verification by a skeptical earlier poster, I got even sicker and began feeling like I was standing at the end of the other gangplank on Noah's Arc getting prodded by three monkeys, three gorillas and an unwitting donkey, so I jumped in and took the picture to Lowe's so they could see what my money paid for. Though they attempted to remain non-committal, the expressions on their faces were all I needed to surmise that a refund would be forthcoming. I was buoyed further by the encouraging nods of a priest, a nun and a rabbi standing off to the side, though I did find the priest's glances a bit discomforting.
Fortunately, feeling two micro-organisms shy of pneumonia, I had been able to suppress the spontaneous combustion that typically results from being plagued by having a fuse of somewhat abbreviated length, with a result possibly better than had I not.
In any case, the search for a plumber follows to see where this goes from here.
Thank you very much for all the...prodding.