I would assume that some sort of copyright law infringement has taken place, or some1 maybe has promoted their 'Chinese' pole as a Gardiners pole.
Alex seemed happy to talk publicly about it - not so windie 😷
Unfortunately I doubt we will hear the whole story...
And as a footnote, a seller has the right to refuse a sale to any person. For whatever reason, just like we don't have to clean a property.
Darran