Lynnie, I'm sorry you had that experience. I've had my Studio for about a year and cut probably 8 quilts with it. It is wonderful for 2.5 strips, 6.5 strips, squares, etc. and makes cutting triangles a breeze. The worst thing about itis the price of the dies, but since my arms and hands complain loudly about rotary cutting I decided the dies are worth it.
Could be that the die your friend purchased was defective. Or are you talking about the plastic sheet you put over the die when cutting? That does tend to look pretty beat after a while, but even so mine work fine.
I also figured out that even though the studio says I can cut 8 layers, 6 is usually a better number of layers.