Who knows then, maybe they screwed it up on the press. They claimed it never went on the press though and they just hammered it.
Could be, if they hammered hard on it with the end entirely unsupported or with no place for the cap to go. If you're going to hammer, you have to put the bottom side on something firm, with a hole for the cap to go into.
It's actually pretty easy to do this either with a press or a hammer.
With a press, get good tension on it, then take a steel hammer and hit the outside edge of the ear. The cap will pop, same principle here as knocking out a ball joint or a tie rod. You can use a big vise and wrench sockets, but you have to make sure that things line up right. Either way, rapping the edge of the ear will help prevent bending.
With a hammer, find something to serve as an anvil, with a hole in it, or find something with a hole in it to put on the anvil or a firm floor. You can use a big wrench socket if the hole is the right size to let the cap through, but still small enough to support the ear all the way around the cap. It helps to have some other support, such as a notched piece of wood, to hold the shaft horizontal. The firmer and less bouncy the support under the ear, the easier it will be. If the support has any give, or if you just hold the shaft in a vise, you'll hammer at it forever.
