Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I ordered this monitor because it got good reviews and was inexpensive. It arrived reasonably promptly, in an undamaged box. When we set it up (which was very easy) we noticed that there was a thin, vertical blue line that went from the top to the bottom of the screen superimposed over whatever program or document we had open. I tried hooking up the monitor to a different Mac, using a different connector (supplied by ViewSonic). The monitor problem appeared the same on both computers. I contacted tech support at ViewSonic and the technician had me try a number of different things, none of which worked. She concluded that the monitor was defective and would have to be repaired/replaced. Here's where ViewSonic dropped the ball. I asked what they were going to do about it, and was told that I would have to ship the monitor at my own expense back to ViewSonic. They would then take 3 weeks to repair it and would ship the repaired monitor back to me! So, I buy a brand new monitor, which turns out to be DOA, and their solution is for me to pay to ship it back and then wait 5 weeks for the repaired monitor to reappear on my doorstep! Needless to say, other than denying that they even sold me the monitor, this is about the worst approach to customer service they could have chosen. I pointed out (vociferously) that they shouldn't make their customers bear the brunt of their poor quality control and that I needed the monitor now; not in 5 weeks. I told them that they should ship me a brand new monitor right away, and that I would return the defective one. After a two-day wait for a response, they agreed to do this, on condition that I supply them with a variety of bits of information, and give them my credit card number and ship the original one back to them at my own expense. One of the bits of info they required was proof of my purchase from Amazon. I forwarded to them the email that I received from Amazon detailing the purchase and they insisted that it "wasn't in the proper form" so they couldn't accept it. I then took screenshots and sent those to them, which they accepted as proof. A week or so later, I received the replacement monitor. It came in a plain brown shipping container--not the ViewSonic-branded box that the original one had come in. So, clearly they didn't simply grab a new one off the shelf and ship it to me, and I'm left wondering if what I received is a refurbished or repaired model, instead of the new one that I paid for. Also, the plastic housing that fits over the actual screen was a bit loose on top (a 1/4 inch gap). A small bit of pressure popped it back into place, but it's yet another indicia that I may have received a refurbished model instead of a new one. The replacement monitor has only been set up for a day and it seems to be working fine, and I"m reasonably pleased with the quality of the image. ViewSonic--I hope you're reading this. I had had a very favorable idea in my mind of the ViewSonic brand until this experience. Now, I'll never buy another ViewSonic product.