Brooke, you might want to contact Brother about their "authorized dealer" and the lack of help therein. They might have suggestions or can provide the dealer with more motivation to help you. Maybe they need to send you a replacement machine. I hope it works out for you. Maybe you could get a nice used/older machine off craigslist or something. Having a poor functioning machine is very frustrating. Problems can occur with some machines from top companies to. The first Bernina I bought skipped stitches at high speed. I showed the lady at the shop I bought it from and they swapped it out immediately. I am still using the second machine and probably always will. I bought the base/manual model and its great. But, that was out first year of marriage and DH had completely spaced my birthday, soooo.....anyway, I've never gotten such a big gift since (unless you count the chop saw and stand I got for Christmas after 10.5 years of marriage)! LOL