I agree with your assessment of the advisor you spoke with. I recall there were no specific install instructions received with the unit. At the time I did a lot of web searching to determine an acceptable install, including
http://www.tsicustomerservice.com/manuals.aspx
And articles with descriptions or pics such as this
I made sure there was air flow to the top. In our case it went below the stereo and I was able to drill holes above and behind the opening that then allowed airflow into the large area where our retractable tv sits.