Sadly, it sounds like you may have been conned with forgeries. Once again, I am very sorry that this has happened to you. If you have the information about the seller, I am sure that @Freebee2 will pass it on to the Flow team. Flow does sell genuine Flow hive components on Amazon, but so do some criminals. This won’t help you, but it might help prevent the same thing from happening to others. What they are doing is illegal - you didn’t do anything wrong, you are just a victim of their cheating.
I just found a picture of genuine Flow frames on another thread, so that you know what I mean about the stamps on the end of the frames:
You are being too hard on yourself. 
We are all human, and we all make mistakes. Not a single one of us is perfect. The good thing is that you came here, and you learned from it. If your plastic frames are fakes, then all of the reading in the world may not have prevented your hive from flooding. The fake frames have design flaws in them, which make them hazardous for bees. You were not stupid, you have just been badly harmed by criminals.
Please don’t feel that way! We all love bees here, and most of us are interested in any kind of hive, not just a Flow hive. I admire people who build their own equipment. I just don’t have the skills and tools for that. You are very welcome here, especially as you are so willing to learn and ask questions.
Saskatraz or Russian bees would be excellent in your climate. I bought packages from Mann Lake this year - they have excellent bees in the Spring.
I really hope you try again next year, either with traditional wax frames, or perhaps with some genuine Flow frames. I wish you and your family all the best! 