Mystery!

In case I haven’t made it clear, the problem occurs after the unit has played a few discs, not at startup. The tech didn’t bother to give it enough time to malfunction.

  I’ve brought it back for a third time.

I've never had that problem with a top loader.

Consider the possibility of an environmental factor such as RFI/EMI.  Maybe a ham radio operator nearby, whose transmitter is not always in use?  Plus, UK CD players are more likely to do this in general, Rega, Naim, etc.  at least in my experience.

I had a Rotel 1072 that played any disk I put into it except for disk 2 of Metallica S&M. I made a copy of that disk which played fine. Years later while dusting and cleaning, I had the CDP on its side on the carpet and it fell over onto it's feet on the carpet. After that, disk 2 of S&M played just fine along with any other disk. I gave up trying to figure it out.

Did you and your tech use the same discs to test the unit?  

Try removing it from your system, plug it into a different circuit, then load a disc. I know this sounds crazy

I trust you will post more like that later on. 

Don't you hate it when that happens?

Dan

The display just says “reading… “ but doesn’t ever read or load.

‘Anyway it just happened again.  Evidently if you keep playing discs it will eventually malfunction.

‘Bringing it back for the third time!