The 3-Stars come solely from the fact that the finished product looks great in spite of itself. This never needed to be as frustrating an experience as it was, given the price point of this tree.
Put simply, I am appalled at the instructions. From shifting verbiage (hydraulic lever versus adjustment lever - are those different? who knows! nothing is appropriately labeled aside from assigned letters!), to the visual representations for specific wood pieces being literal mirrors of the actual pieces, I felt like I needed a Master's Degree in Functioning Discernment to figure out what the instructions' intent was for every step.
Several of my wood pieces (A, B, C, and P) didn't have pre-drilled starter holes for ease-of-use with the provided screwdriver. You basically need a drill for put this tree together effectively.
The plastic bowl platform - is the plastic bowl supposed to just sit on the wood platform? If so, why does the plastic bowl have 4 screw-holes? Why does the plastic not fit snugly in the indented section of the wood, where it clearly should rest? Who knows! The instructions for the step skip over it entirely! I ended up using the 4 remaining screws to fasten the bowl onto the wood platform, but of course the screws are longer than the wood, so pointy screws are sticking out from the bottom of the platform.
Two of the velcro-mats were missing velcro strips. I had to use my own velcro strips for this.
Finally, the instructions should include a disclaimer that using 3M Velcro strips to secure the base to wood will inevitably damage the wood (or stain) should you ever decide to move the tree in the future. Maybe even acknowledge what strategies to potentially mitigate this, like using a blow-dryer to heat the residue before pulling off the wood.
What's most frustrating is that this product looks great, does in-fact securely fasten to the ceiling, and my cats took a liking to it immediately. Otherwise... what an absolute shit-show.