S7 opened all their bags last year *points finger* I'm guessing they saw the bag... saw the pricetag and probably though, "they really want us to sell this for $400?.. who would pay that?" Last years bags seemed to be more mysterious sealed because even the figures varied from bag to bag (just my thoughts)
I agree opening the bags sucks. I will look into it. GR is a big company so I will assume it was a miscommunication with the floor staff. I don't think anyone there was trying to scam anyone. Questioning weather or not they should be in the distro network seems a little silly to me considering they have been selling Gargamel longer than just about anyone else. Since they are not a dedicated toy shop it might take us a few releases for them to get everything sorted but I am sure they will.