The Non-RMA

I have an odd product I purchased a while ago.  It's a good product from a good company but this particular one has had problems from the start.  I've replaced three parts on it so far and it still isn't able to work successfully.   It's using up consumable parts that should go for hundreds of hours but in my case are lasting about five hours.   It's an odd mystery what the source of the problem is since each of the things that's gone wrong aren't necessarily related. 

I've been working with support and they've mailed me replacement parts and consumable components, but we still have a barely functioning machine.  What's been interesting to me is that the company hasn't offered to RMA the product yet. 

The latest steps had me opening up the back of the unit and rewiring things to test it in a different configuration.  This step confirmed that the main board running the unit needs to be replaced.   So, surely they would offer to replace the unit at this point, but it appears they're considering sending me the board.   How I'm going to disassemble the whole unit to replace the board into which everything else connects, is a little concerning. 

There is an additional problem I discovered and upon emailing with this information I thought surely this would be the tipping point.   But no, I'm to do some measurements tomorrow and if they're out of a certain tolerance then there is another part that needs replacing. 

It's been an interesting journey.   Fortunately, it's not a product I can't do without, so I'm just going along with all the testing and part replacement and wondering when or if they're going to decide they need to swap the whole unit out.

The Big Boy Update:  My son wanted to play video games today but he had to read to earn time, and he ultimately decided to spend the afternoon in his room.  He did come down after dinner to watch his father play a video game.   He had so many questions.  He had the best time watching and seeing someone else playing a game for once. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter asked me last night if I could cut her hair.  Her brother's hair I'm less worried about because it's wavy.  Her hair is straighter when we dry it and if I didn't get her bob cut right, it would be noticeable.   She wanted me to cut it though and stood very still.   We think I did an okay job.   It wasn't noticeable this morning, which is a relief.