Lots of us (me included) have never had a single problem with the Ascent.
As this cropped up again, let me throw my hat into the ring. I have a few Ascents, one of them longer than almost everyone here (thus, one of the oldest units that is floating out there). In addition to that, I have bought some for friends, and had other IRL friends (I'm talking non-FC people I know, not people I have met here.) that have picked one up after trying mine. I think the total is now up to 11 units I have first-hand knowledge of, including mine. Not one of them has reported an issue. (I had a charger that developed a bad connection, but the Ascent is fine.)
I understand how frustrating it is to get a bad unit, let alone two or three in a row, and I feel bad for people that encounter that. I frankly can't understand how the odds work such that that happens, but I can understand how to a person on the receiving end, it might *seem* like EVERYTHING is broken.
But that really is a sampling bias issue. If one focuses only on the bad units, then that just confirms the assumption that goes into the hypothesis. Or more specifically, you assume your conclusion in your premises, and then think your conclusion is valid.
That's an issue of circular reasoning, and a fallacious means of thought.
I realize that's little comfort to someone shipping a unit back, who is perhaps more driven by frustration and emotion, than rationality, but the best I can say is "Hang in there, as there are an awful lot of good units out there. The Nth time is a charm!"