From what I've seen on this forum, even the "good" suppliers have bad moments. None of these suppliers are selling new Grade A cells. These are grey market "reject" cells of varying quality and the pricing reflects that. They advertise them as "new, grade A" rather than describing what they really are. That's just the way it seems to work. I assume all the suppliers end up with some good cells and some bad cells and they are going to ship them all to customers and deal with with the issues. Partial refund seems to be their preferred resolution. Anyone thinking they are getting top quality 280Ah cells for under $100 each is delusional.
If you want real grade A new cells, just call the battery company and get a quote. If they won't sell in the quantities you are looking for, they will probably point you to a legit distributer. This is how to get new grade A cells and the pricing will reflect it.
I ended up going with the group buy on this forum for 16 272Ah lishens because I figured Michael was buying a lot of volume and the suppliers might be less likely to ship bad cells on those orders (and Michael could deal with the supplier if there were issues). It turned out positively for me. Basen was the supplier on my order and the cells met my expectations (not perfect, but great for the price). You might check out the group buy thread (in the for sale section) and ping Michael if you are interested.