Cricut Maker 3 Smart Cutting Machine

I love the maker 3, very versatile for what's considered low/mid range price, but this particular machine has been a nightmare. The machine would not detect the engraving tip and a couple others. Cricut tech support attempted to help (how many times do I need to reinstall software to determine that's not the problem?) and finally decided to send replacement tips. The replacement tips were not detected by the unit either. After even more deleting, downloading, time on zoom, blah blah blah, tech support determined it's the machine. A new machine will arrive 7-10 days, return tickets for old unit free shipping return. I bought the stupid maker early Nov, planning on making projects for Christmas. After all the bs, they decided on 12/15 to send new machine AND HAVE DEACTIVATED THE OTHER MACHINE. I thought we'll at least I can make cards and gift tags. I called customer support.... The only thing they can do is rush shipping, which will not get here by the time my family is celebrating. They would not reinstate my machine. Gave me BS excuse about retailers putting defective machines back on sale... The return ticket to cricut should alleviate that problem. Unfortunately I have already bought another maker 3 for a family member for Xmas. If I had gone thru all this before getting the gift, I would have gone with a different company/product. I'm hoping she too won't get a POS and have to spend the hours on line, on phone (if you call tech support expect no less than 1/2 hour wait), wasted time redoing same things over and over with tech support... Now the joy of reboxing/returning a defective product and unable to use even the simplest functions because cricut deactivated the machine.