Its the finish causing h issues..

Prefinish manufactueresare all busy competing with eachthers bogus warranties.. Particularly LLS WHO STARTED WITH THE 50 YEAR WARRANTY.

Now the prefinish companies are overbuilding their coatings and thisnis the result.
You didnt notice other floors you lived on because they were most likely
Site finished.. And if th have poly from 30plus years ago.. They are iron..

When you start building a water based finish too thick, to is soft.
Oils dried hard and more coats add to the hardness of the coating.

Waterbased is applied thicker to begin with, than oil. Building coats of waterbased creates a soft surface, easily denting the finish.

Wonder if high heels are worn in the house?

I'm reading this and cringing here ... YES YES YES, I'm experiencing the same. I'm in dispute with importer and we will meet this week finally after 6 months of emails/phone calls.
I also bought Taupe Berry which is red oak 8 months ago and I’ve many dents from just cell phone dropping or laying my grocery bags down. It’s absurd! It’s obviously too soft as it’s not as dense as they are harvesting the wood too early- I did some research. It’s a scam. The industry is very deregulated. No one knows about the janka scale not even Home Depot or Loew’s hardwood floor sales reps. Red oak is rated at 1290 but it’s really just 90 as anything that drops that weighs more than 2 ounces leaves an impression. That includes even a set of keys. It has caused me mental anguish. What good is the floor if you can’t live in it? The importers are not accountable. They have a waiver in the back of the invoice that they are not responsible for dents and scratches, so that means they can make the wood as soft as it can be and they will not be accountable for their actions. That is WRONG! If a car is a lemon, you get a new car, why can’t we get new wood installed for free if it’s deemed defective? This way it will force the importers to make sure they give us strong enough wood.

Next time I shop for wood I’m bring steel ball and dropping it on the wood that is shipped to my home to prove it’s strong enough to install in my house or will just buy laminate floors or just do tiles. I learned the hard way and hope anyone reads this doesn’t buy soft wood floors ever again!

Manufactures do not make oak trees, nature does. If your floor is engineered then its more to do with the thickness of the veneer and the quality of the backer plys. Lowes and Home Depot are the last[place you should buy a wood floor unless you are just price driven, as that is their strong point. I'm sorry your expectations are not being met but in the future I would suggest going to a flooring store to buy flooring as you will hopefully find someone who actually knows what they are selling. That way you can make an informed decision as to what is your best option for the budget. I get people in here all the time that are over budget and want me to catch them back up? Stupid , thats all Im going to say about that. Ive seen people spend more on their appliances than their floor and dont even know how to cook.

No no no. I bought it from a local reputable distributor in Los Angeles area. He has been in business for almost 40 yrs. HD and Lowe's was an example that they never heard of the Janka scale. My Taun Berry wood (similar to read oak as the importer wrote to me) was rated at 1270-1300 hardness. Even when my keys drop it causes a small dent. Placing groceries that have tin cans, cause dents. It's unjustified. It's not dense at all. By the way, it's solid wood not engineered, unless I was scammed? hmmm how can I tell the difference? I have a few strips left in my garage I can check ...

I paid $5 per sq foot - not enough? If I knew then what is about to happen I would have bought a $1 per sq foot hardwood floor. The density factor can't get any worse - I'm sure.

Should have bought a domestic floor and you wouldnt be getting the run around. filing a claim with an importer is like trying to sue someone that's on a different planet. Good luck having those guys standing behind it, they make so much cheap flooring they might just replace it just to move on but I can guarantee they wont pay to have the old removed and the new put down.

Bottom line if you feel that it is not performing as you feel it should. I am sure you have some left over send to a testing lab and get a definitive answer.