I'd love to be informed that the expensive units are different but I think ALL pellet grills pretty much use the same chinese igniters. They are just not as reliable as a steel box. Things that get real hot, or have moving parts, have limited lifetimes, that's just the way it is. Pellet machines have both. But these parts can be sourced from Chinese
Amazon sellers and spares are plenteous and cheap...$10 for an igniter. (And sometimes it's easier to fix things yourself than deal with warranty supplied parts.)
Pellet grills last about as long as a car, but you do have to throw some parts at both of them occasionally. That's good enough for me. But I have the tools and aptitude to work on them both and actually somewhat enjoy it.
But no one here will fault you if you want something simpler. Consider
Weber kettles or bullet-type smokers like the Smokey Mountain. They're a little simpler to use (or at least to "tend" while using) than an offset or other traditional "stick burner" and feature the reliabilty and simplicity of a steel box, because that's basically what they are.
The "gravity" charcoal smokers are "the next big thing" but they also have computerized controllers and moving fans. Should be somewhat more reliable than a pellet machine but they still have the same basic failure modes.
It sounds like the vendor will give you a full refund and you can buy anything you want. That's good, right? It doesn't sound like you had great customer support (repeated requests for the same pictures) but who does during Covid? At least they're not hanging you out to dry money wise.
Thanks for posting and let us know how you decide to proceed.