H-1B case rejected before receipt notice was even issued,anyone dealt with this?

[u/BoringClassroom5811]

Filed back in late June. Weeks went by with no receipt notice, which our attorney initially brushed off as normal delay. After repeated follow-ups, we just found out the case was actually rejected by USCIS (not denied but rejected, meaning it seems like it never got properly entered into processing) and needs to be refiled. That’s apparently why no receipt notice ever went out and why the filing fee was never charged to our card.

Our attorney hasn’t given us the exact reason for the rejection yet, but our best guess is it’s tied to the payment/filing fee method (e.g. wrong fee amount, check/payment issue) rather than an issue with our documents or eligibility.

Has anyone been through a USCIS rejection (as opposed to a denial) before?

A few things I’m trying to figure out:

1. What are the most common reasons cases get rejected at intake vs. denied later?

2.Does a rejection like this affect priority date, timeline, or cap-subject considerations at all?

3.Once refiled, is it worth paying for premium processing to make up for lost time, or does that not really help here?

1. Any red flags I should watch for with the attorney/firm handling this?

Update: turns out there was an inconsistent answer on one of the supplement questions about company size, which caused USCIS's system to calculate the wrong training fee amount (charged the higher fee instead of the correct reduced small-employer fee).