The MBP From Heck

Question

OK, I'm hoping someone here has some good advice for me.
I purchased a refurbished first gen 15" MBP back in October. Since then, I have had nothing but trouble with it. It has been in for repairs five times now, and it's still having issues.
It started with random, intermittent crashes. I thought it was perhaps overheating, so I checked the CPU temp and it seemed high, but within limits. The crashes started getting worse, and I finally whipped out a copy of TechTool Pro and checked. It found 160+ bad blocks in the first 1% of the drive alone! What's worse, the number increased every time I ran it.
So fine, I know hard drive failure when I see it. I take it in to the local Apple Store to get it fixed. They replace the drive, test the machine, say it's fine now. Okay.
Two weeks after getting it back, it starts crashing intermittently again. So I checked again: sure enough, bad blocks were on the drive again, and increasing in number once again.
I take it back in a second time. They replace the drive again and the logic board. Test it, say it's fine, give it back to me.
A few weeks give or take later, I start having issues again, same deal as before. Not trusting the local store, I call AppleCare, tell them the issue, they send me the box, yadda yadda. Replace logic board and hard drive again. Get it back.
A few weeks (not sure exactly how many) after that, the headphone port starts not working (the issue that's been reported before, with it turning red like there's a plug in there but nothing is there). Given I'm using this machine to work with, and I was working on sound apps at the time, this is kinda important.
Take it in, to the local store again (hey, it's not the hard drive this time, right?) They agree about the expected problem, take it in, replace whatever the audio I/O board is, return it. Okay.
Well, the headphones now work, but about a week later I checked the internal microphone, and it no longer works (I use it for conference calls). Tried plugging in an external mic. Line In no longer works, either.
I live with it for a while, since--being a work machine--I'm losing a lot of money in downtime at this point.
The keyboard starts failing.
I take it in to the local store. They say they're so backed up with iPhone problems that it'll be a week to fix it there. I take it to the second of three stores in the area. They have the time but not the part. I take it to the third store, they have the part and the time, at least for the keyboard, but not for the mic. I come pick it up the next day.
About two weeks or so later, I start noticing intermittent crashes again.
I run TechTool again, and there's about 1600 bad blocks, all confined to the last 10% of the drive. And the number is rising again.
Now, I've owned or been co-owner of about 20 Macs in almost as many years, including refurbished models, and never once have I ever had problems like this, both in severity and in frequency. My MBP spends a majority of the time on a desk connected to test hardware, so it's not jostled around a lot, it's well ventilated, and I always make sure when I do pick it up to wait until it's fully asleep and the hard drive is parked. I've had PowerBooks in the past that I've treated similarly, and never once had problems with them. My wife owns a MacBook, carries it around with her all the time, knocks into it, leaves it sitting sideways on the couch, etc, and apart from a swollen battery has never had a single issue with it.
So I really don't think it's anything I'm doing. I think this machine is just cursed somehow. The problem is, at this point, AppleCare doesn't seem to be able to do anything about it. I need to take it in again, but since the closest Apple store is a 30 minute drive away, I haven't been able to schedule the time to get down there yet, and I'm not sure calling in to AppleCare will help (it certainly didn't before).
Are the first gens just this badly designed? Is there any way I can get Apple to for sure fix this machine once and for all? I mean, this is not only below the quality standards I've come to expect from Apple, this is below quality standards for even third-rate PC laptops, and that just doesn't seem right at all. Yet here I sit with a MBP that has had practically every part except the display replaced *at least* once, and it still doesn't work.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I just want it fixed once and for all. My work was considering this a test run to see if my claims about the better value and reliability of Macs are true, and obviously right now they're never going to even consider buying a Mac again. I can't really say I blame them right now.
Thank you!
edit: didn't realize the title was a forbidden word

Answer 1

I personally would say it's time for a new machine... and I'm typically the last person to say that someone should get a new one... but your list of problems would seem to warrant it. Try giving Apple Customer Relations a call:
Apple Customer Relations [phone]
You seem to have your repair history fairly well documented. You also seem to be pretty level headed about the whole thing... which is good. It never helps to just blow up about something like this. Explain your situation to them and ask if they would consider a replacement. Please come back here and let us know how you make out.