I've spent 5 figures with them over the last few years, and they've always been good to me too. I'm writing this off as a one-time mistake, but I really hope it doesn't become a trend.
Could also be caused by a bad employee doing shenanigans or a could also be a one off mistake. But it could be something B&H is doing to unsuspecting customers and that is terrible for their reputation.
They’ve been sorta good, but rumors if things like this have been persistent for a decade. Photographers would get a few copies of a lens, and then return copies ones that were not up spec. B&H would allegedly just relist those as new, not open box. Many manufacturers don’t seal their boxes…
I heard some rumors though I'm not sure how widespread the issue is. So far B&H has had a pretty good reputation, maybe they changed management and whoever is in charge doesn't care about reputation, only profits.