No doubt in my mind they should have questioned the fork. I questioned them during the auction as to whether it was a Zunow fork. They gave me essentially the same answer you got. They do avoid coming out and saying it is a Zunow fork in the aution.

I am also curious if the measurements were correct. They said it was 51.5 c-c and I questioned that as the spacing between the top and down tube on the head tube is larger than on my three 52cm frames.

While I feel for you, I think you should have asked before buying. But I also believe they were deceptive in the way it was presented.