Does not matter who the retailer is. Sometimes it works out well and other times it doesn't.

Bought a GP 1/3 Christen Eagle ARF through my LHS a few years ago., Virtually every part was damaged when it arrived. I called Tower and they acted as though I was the biggest scammer in the universe. Took over a full year to get that sorted out. With the replacement parts (all old stuff returned), came another defective cowl. Took a couple more months to get that sorted out.

Got a Giant Aeromaster ARF a couple of years ago. There were a few minor defects which I was not about to question since it was not worth the effort. However, there were many damaged wing ribs. Pieces fell out of the wings when I took them out of the box. Called them about it and they could not have cared less. Basically, hung me out to dry.

Had a hinge sloting machine. It went up in smoke with a giant flash when plugged in while still quite new. Hung out to dry on that one too. Tossed it, switched to Robart hinge points and haven't looked back.

They once shipped a couple of boat prop shafts - value about 5 bucks - in error. Called them up and they wondered what I was talking about. They had put the correct item on my invoice and picked the wrong part. They shipped out the right stuff. When I asked if they wanted the wrong stuff back, they said to just trash them.

On balance, whenever there has been an issue, they have failed. With that track record, I prefer instances where there are no snags.