The thing is, this is now a defect but it may manifest itself into a failure in the future. Depending on what that failure is, you may be even more screwed than you are now. For all you know, whatever is going bad, may take out whatever is good with it!

It's a crappy situation. I've learned to buy only what I need, test the shit out of everything I buy and trust my instincts about what I keep and what I don't. In fact, I barely buy anything anymore because I am continuously disappointed and don't want to spend my time testing for others.