Hm, in fact you don't have to care why the card arrived as a DOA. It's the resellers problem getting you a satisfactory product and them saying 'ah well it's out of our hands now' and pointing to DCE isn't going to hold op in lawpractice. If they cannot provide you with a satisfactory product they should give you a full refund. However being right and getting your right executed is something completely different :-(.
I guess even with Vesalia (quite a respectable name in my mind) one has to be very carefull >:|.