I spent many years in the consumer electronics industry. There were always some customers that had nothing but trouble with anything that they bought. My unscientific theory, which was as good as anything else I guess, is that some people give off some kind of weird field that has negative effects on electronic and mechanical things. You know how smoke from a campfire seems to follow you sometimes regardless of the wind direction ? Like there is something in your system that attracts the smoke molecules ? Maybe the same unknown and unmeasurable vibe is given off that wrecks things and that's why the OP had so much trouble.
