Hunt,
      This flaw is not at the rail joiner. it is at the switch itself. I bought some expansion pieces and they do have nearly as big a flaw as this. hopefully it is rare thing.

Have you checked the track at the switch. I just bought a Digital Commander set and have had some issues with derailments on the turnout. I looked at the track and noticed the track at the switch was not level. I could see that the track at the switch was higher than the adjacent track. When I hit that point I derailed going from the lower side to the higher. From the other direction I did not have any trouble. Should I file it down? Being new at this I am not sure how that affects track performance. I also noticed that pressing lightly on the tie at that point leveled off the track. Also since the set only comes with one turnout I do not know how frequently this occurs.