Unfortunate experience with the Delta 3

This has been a weird experience. I had a project in mind last year the the LP Delta3 would be perfect for. I'd never had a LattePanda before but they look really neat.

I ordered a Delta 3 from a local seller (I'm in Australia) and when the unit arrived it was DOA. Oh well, these things happen. I sent the unit back to the seller, who contacted DFRobot about how to handle the case. They wanted to repair it. So the unit was shipped back home to the manufacturer for repair (turns out they'd forgotten a resistor on the board). Finally got the unit back 2 months later.

It booted twice and on the third... snap out comes the magic smoke. Dead again.

I'm at a bit of a loss, I waited so long for this rather expensive (but very cool) little board to get back and it's still dead. Is this a normal thing or did I just get very unlucky?