Wow... There is a lot to digest here. Haven't had the chance to get on here and reply.
First, in regards to spikehyzer, surprisingly I did Not hook my bag to my bumper and drive it down a back country road (great joke though). Sorry the tournament that the strap ripped off on me was during the rain storms the midwest was getting, so yes it was a little dirty, but those pictures were taken right after the tourney. If you were in my situation I am sure you would be frustrated and somewhat cheap, just sayin...
Second, I do have my warranty card and I also did email salient. Sorry it is a frustrating situation and I feel as though, they do not care. In the response email Hillary said, "my hands are tied" just wish there was a little more care as I do not think I should have experienced this type of problem. Also it is frustrating that they are telling me I should just take it to a seamstress, I just do not feel like that is customer service and almost like I am to blame for the strap ripping right off.
Thirdly, seeing Scott Salient post that he has never seen this problem really makes me feel like I received a deafulty product. I was not even going to post anymore til reading that. Just so everyone knows, my point to posting was to vent my frustrations in a respectful manner and to see what Scott Salient would recommend from here. I am not company bashing, I like to support smaller companies. Honestly the helix is a very sweet bag and I like what it offers. I was just not expecting it to rip on me like that, it was very disappointing.
Thats about all I have right now. I am sure most of you would be frustrated in my position and if not, you are a better person than me.