Just posting back here for posterity as this was addressed through email.
I'm sorry that your kit had meters that didn't work. We test them all for full deflection, but sometimes things get past us. It's odd that your kit has two bad meters. You might double check to see that the meter needles aren't impeded by the backing plate-- sometimes when we put the labels on, they don't seat fully. and the needles get caught on the plate.
Thanks for getting back to me. Your analysis is correct, the needles were hung on the label at the curved opening. I pushed the label too far down on the notches for the min/max pins and it stuck out and touched the needle. All is good now.