Have I got a dud Minikit Slim?

Hi there
I bought my girlfriend a minikit slim chic for Xmas. When we got it it was dead, so we charged it, but then needed to load on new firmware as it was only Portugese (or French) language. This went OK. We got it paired and working and then at lunch time the Parrot would not turn on, and still till now, it won't. It's only the 27th Dec!
And, it seemed like the battery was dead too again. On the 26th when we plugged it in, the charge light was on very faintly. On the 27th it seems to be charging for hours and hours with the led on.

This what I've tried

1 Rresetting with the button underneath and jog wheel. Lots of times, different combinations of pressing and releasing and holding a button first, last etc.

2 Leaving it charging, then trying it

3 Rebooting it while plugged into the laptop

4 Reinstalling the firmware, firstly the update software would not recognise that the unit was plugged in when it told me to - then it just says 'an error occured during the flashing process, please try again' when I plug it in.

5 Screaming and shouting loudly at it

and none of the above have worked.

Anyone else got any ideas? is it a dud?

Happy Xmas

Phatjap