My original Surface 3 had a defective LCD. First a yellow line, running vertically side to side, appeared about seven inches from the left side of the screen as you are holding the tablet in landscape. I lived with this faint, yellow line for several weeks, being a bit too lazy to deal with the support call and the eventual device swipe that I anticipated.

Next, two days ago, another line, this time magenta, appeared about two inches from the left side of the screen. Being magenta, there really is no way to not see the line and not be distracted by it. It was time for me to reach out to support.

I bought the Surface 3 from Costo online, and after receiving the device I was notified of the Costco Concierge for technical support, so I called the 1-800 number they provided. It didn't take too much troubleshooting to determine that the LCD was defective, so the Costco agent attempted to bring Microsoft in to the call, but I got dropped in waiting for Microsoft. After another call to Costco, and more waiting for Microsoft, I decided to drop the call with Costco and contact Microsoft directly.

From the Surface app I followed a link to Microsoft's support web site and opened an online session with a Microsoft Support person. After following some troubleshooting steps to confirm the problem was the LCD, we initiated the Advanced Exchange process by which Microsoft sent me a replacement unit while putting a hold on my credit card until they receive the defective unit.

I placed the call on Wednesday, on Friday afternoon the replacement unit arrived and I am currently writing this using that device. The replacement device shipped with Windows 8, so I have had to work with Windows 8 for a few days and I can say that after just a little over a week I've grown fond of Windows 10.