Broke my Thomson Elite Setback Seatpost

I've been noticing a creak coming from my seat or seatpost recently but didn't think that much of it until last Saturday morning. I was out riding a section of undulating trail, light in the saddle letting the bike do the work, when suddenly I hear a clink and there's nothing but empty space where my saddle should be. This didn't happen as a result of a big hit on this occasion, although I reckon it's experienced a few of those in its lifetime (bearing in mind I'm no daredevil so a "big hit" for me is more like 12 inches off the ground and landing a bit flat).

Apparently no one breaks these things so I might be special or I somehow copped the one dodgy one that managed to make it through the system, but it's definitely a bin job now:

Luckily I didn't take out a femoral artery or end up carrying around a colostomy bag while my bum heals or anything along those lines but it's these type of injuries that make me wonder if I bought the right product. ie I'm not saying the brand is rubbish but maybe that this model is perhaps a "light" version when I really need a heavy duty model.

However, light or heavy duty I don't think it should have snapped in this manner and especially not since it wasn't quite 12 months old yet. According to Thomson's website:

Original Goals of the Thomson Seatpost Design:

• Make the strongest post on the market.
• Make a post with the correct failure mode, bend-don’t break.
• Make a post with a long life cycle.
• Make a post that engages with the saddle and the seatube of the bike in a simple manner.
• Make a post that is light while being strong and safe.

I'd have to call that a fail in this case.

I'm not sure if I want to attempt a replacement under warranty if there's a chance it might snap like this again but maybe if I bought the wrong model for my weight or whatever I could be swayed to try another one.

I've emailed Thomson to get their thoughts anyway. In the meantime I don't want to risk a piece of jagged metal up the old alimentary canal so I'll stick with the cheaper ones that I know will definitely bend before breaking.

Update: I have a response back from Thomson already and they're keen to replace it. However, they say that "That type failure is from a stress riser at the clamp area. Did you have slipping issues? Have you checked the inside of the frame for burrs or sharp edges?"

Yes, in the last 3 or 4 weeks, along with the creaking problem I did have slipping issues which I attempted to cure with a little grease here and there and tightening the clamp a bit more and that usually did cure it for a while. There's no burrs or edges I can see or feel but from what they're saying it sounds like there's some possibility I may have contributed to or even caused the failure, but then what do you do with a creaking and slipping seatpost?

Update 2: It appears that the manufacturer specified the incorrect seat post diameter leading to widespread seatpost slipping problems with this bike (GT Peace 9r). The overtightening of the clamp necessary to stop the slipping would appear to be the cause of mine breaking. Check out this thread in the MTBR forums.