OK, so the black bolt that goes through the hinge was over-tightened from the factory. I loosed that bolt a bit and it works fine now. One of the holes the bolt goes through is a bit too large so when you open the lid the weight of the lid drops the bolt and it isn't straight so it binds.
If...
So to get this straight, everyone's hinge requires them to pull up to close the lid? I'm having the same issue. Didn't do it initially but now it binds. Talked to RecTeq this morning. They said the hinge screws were over-tightened (no mention of this being intentional). Loosened the screws but...
Had the same issue and this fixed it. Glad I wasn't the only one who did this. For some reason I never saw how much to put in on the initial start up. Now I know. Thanks!