Back with an Update.
Great News for Washington residents, and all props to the University Village Apple Store near UW for helping me keep my sanity. You guys are awesome and definitely step up to the plate to represent the quality customer service that Apple is (was, depending on who you are) known for.
Now my story.
I discovered my IR issues last week, and called 1-800-My-Apple (DO NOT CALL THEM FOR THIS ISSUE. THEY ARE ABSOLUTELY HORRIBLE AND WILL TOSS YOU AROUND UNTIL YOU FEEL LIKE HANGING UP). I was told that outside of 14-days, nothing could be done and that nonsense. I was then insulted by being told that I may be using it at a weird angle (as mentioned in a previous post) and other nonsense that would make any rMBP owner furious.
Fortunately, I went back to the apple store I bought it at (University Village Apple Store, Seattle -- BTW YOU GUYS SERIOUSLY ROCK!!!! THANKS FOR my new SAMMY Screen). So I previously had an LG, week 23 unit. It would have IR within 10 minutes of a static screen.
I showed them the ghosting issue, and in my case (graphic design) I work with static images that remain on my screen for 5-10 minutes at a time whenever I am fabricating. I did a mountain drop landscape on a white background with gray/black brushes. My intial mountain outline stayed visible for about 5-10 minutes after my initial adjustment, so definitely a horrible IR issue...especially if you are like me and your "bread and butter" is kind of dependent on not having unusual artifacts in your work, while you work.
While waiting for my appointment, I checked the 6 rMBP displays. 2 Samsung and 4 LG. I checked one LG, and both Sammys. My LG, the display LG in the store both showed ghosting within 10 minutes. The Sammys had the image up for 20 minutes respectively and absolutely no IR.
Again, I seriously owe this particular apple store a gigaton. These guys heard me out (unlike 1-800-My-Apple) and they kept my unit for further testing because of the readily ghosting issue. It seems most apparent whenever I am in graphic design, but never an issue when playing a movie or editing a movie.
Based off of my last week of research and use, the ghosting seems to be a large issue to individuals like myself who regularly work with static images (and for ghosting to happen after 10 minutes is completely unacceptable in regards to QC).
Luckily the first unit that got swapped happened to have an LSN vs. LP serial number, so I can safely say I now have a week 32, Samsung screen and I have left it on a checkerboard for the last hour and am happy to say there is no ghosting whatsoever.
Long Story Short, it looks like a hit or miss for most customers which *****. But I can say politeness and factual evidence went a long way in my case (though I was venting about my 3000+ cost before I spoke with a genius 😝)
Again, if any Apple Stores around are watching this board, you should re-evaluate your "managerial words" especially when there is clearly a QC issue at hand.
University Village Apple Store in Seattle... YOU GUYS SERIOUSLY are the BEST...SERIOUSLY!!! Thanks for hearing out my issue and verifying it, and even agreeing to a replacement 2 weeks outside of the 14-day.
(I will update back if I notice issues with my sammy display, but seems awesome so far)