I agree that Joann's will take it back.

I use the pinking blade on fleece, and I do have to press quite hard, but it does work ok.

When I first tried my pinking blade I had trouble and found I had tightened the screw too much. Once I loosened it a bit the blade worked well. I don’t use it often but it works well now. Also I had trouble when using a ruler with it. It seems to be best for ( free hand) cutting without a ruler obstruction. Check out the above mentioned video, or hen you take it back maybe the customer service representative could try it out with you- show you what’s going wrong