I had a lot of difficulty getting the allen screw out. This product has a typical allen screw, a small one, under the faceplate, that attaches the faceplate to the backplate which is mounted to the wall. The product did NOT come with an allen key. They allen screw is NOT a conventional size. I have a few complete sets of allen keys. None of them contained a key that worked. I had a key that almost worked, which I tapped (gently hammered) into the screw to make it work after I stripped the key by trying to jam it in with pliers/hammer. It finally worked, I removed the screws, but my fingers are sore from all the effort. I called the manufacturer. It was easy to get a live person on the phone who told me that an allen key should have come with the product (it didn't) and gave me the specs for the appropriate allen key. I don't know who easy it would be to find this key size at a hardware store, seeing as it did not come in the packs that I already owned. It may be a specialty item that needs special order. I don't know.Also, the screws were secured very, very tightly in the faceplate. I've installed many, many products like this using this allen screw construction. This shouldn't be so hard. There's no reason why those screws should be so tightly secured in there.The up side is that the items have good weight to them; they don't feel flimsy. They do appear to be solid brass. I bought two towel bars, both in matte black. The rods are pristinely painted, not a scuff on them. The ends/anchors are for the most part also pristinely painted. There are no scratches but one of them has an area with a few tiny scuffs, which, luckily won't be visible after installation because they'll be at the bottom of the anchor, facing the floor.