Refurbished -vs- New router from AMZ

I literally stumbled upon a finding with my “new” ORBI mesh router. It installed fine and has been working fine, however, I noticed that my NETGEAR warranty was expiring soon and considering I just bought it “new” from AMZ, I had to find out why. NETGEAR informed me that my serial number showed up as “refurbished” not new and hence I have limited support options. I went after AMZ who claimed it was an “inventory error” and offered to replace it with a new one. 

Not sure if I would have ever known this if for not stumbling upon the little nuance of an expired warranty. Given the recent WSJ article on AMZ, I’m confident the issue was not NETGEAR. I feel “fraud” or incompetence on AMZ’s behalf. 

Be sure to check your serial number with NETGEAR once you install a “new” device.