Heh that's kind of a shame. I wonder if they cross-checked their records (it looks like you sent the RMA to different places) to check up on the history of the customer beforehand.
Realistically, each time you send back a monitor for RMA, you get the same % chance of getting a defective one back; manufacturers don't double-check replacement monitors for defects, or at least Amptron doesn't (one is simply taken from inventory and sent). You would think though that after several times, they'd think to double-check a replacement to make sure there's no problems, because otherwise the customer is spending ridiculous amounts of money paying for shipping back and forth (not to mention the company). I remember the one time I know of where we had a 2nd time RMAer, I made sure to burn in the replacement first (some problems don't show up until components are warm) and that there were no dead pixels, because she's spending extra money paying shipping for something that's not her fault (I figured the extra money and time justified it). Fortunately the first one I tested had none, so it was sent back and we haven't heard from her since. On the other hand, these are LCD monitors, which are generally vice-free; our defect rate is somewhere less than 1%, which is a testament not to Amptron but to Chi Mei, which is where our monitors come from (CMV and Polyview). I figured that she was a poor soul for getting a bad one twice. I have no idea about the defect rate for CRT monitors though since Amptron stopped selling them a long time ago.
Anyway I did it because I knew she was a repeat RMAer. Since you shipped your monitor to different places, they might not have known about your previous problems. Sure, you wrote your letter, but if it's a big company, that letter only gets sent to (say) customer service, and it means the grunts on the ground who handle the RMA, testing, etc., may not see it, and not know to make sure to it's working. The goof probably came from them sending it off to be fixed, then getting it back (along with a batch of other fixed monitors), and sending it back to you, not realizing that it was the same one. Oh well. We'll see how it goes I guess. In contrast, with the RMAer, I was the one who got the email, went over to physically take the replacement monitor from inventory, put it on the bench, wait for it to burn in, test it out, check for dead pixels, emailing that I've tested it out personally, etc., everything except the actual shipping (which is handled by the inventory guys, since they're the ones to handle all the shipping cost and serial number and all that). Whether or not someone from Viewsonic would personally handle it (as opposed to just filing it for the inventory guys to take care of) depends on how their own customer service works, and I have no idea about that.
I guess you were the unlucky one in a million that kept getting defects (with all the monitors they sell, it's gotta happen to somebody). Although getting the same busted monitor back seems pretty sloppy, especially when it still has the same problems.
Chuck Hsiao
Formerly of Amptron
(Note: This doesn't mean that small companies are all that and a bag of chips -- we only got one teensy weensy distribution/repair/support node, located in California, so if you're in New York, you're going to be shipping cross country if you want any type of service. We also can only do RMA within the U.S. because otherwise, the shipping cost is horrendous, not to mention liability and everything. And we can't do anything remotely like Dell with house calls and all that.)