Having start up issues - unsure if software or hardware

Hello.

in February, I bought a reburbished 2014 MacBook Pro with Retina display.

Starting from Sunday, it began delaying start up. Today was a lot longer than usual. So I knew there was an issue. I shut it down, and tried to access Safe Mode by holding down the shift key. It ends up taking longer, after a minute and 20 seconds the apple logo starts up and then login screen. So it ignores my safe mode request. I log in, and suddenly the screen fliickers with white stripes running down. Similar to what VHS tapes do or when you tune the old TV.

I Went onto Disk Utility and tried to see if that could tell me any problems. Kind of pointless as you may of guessed. Then I thought I'd try to use Time Machine. Nothing. Discovered it was turned off. Luckily I use Google Drive so my uni files are backed up.

So I have no idea what to do. New computer, I bought online on Apple website, and because it's refurbished, maybe it's a hardware issue causing the flickering screen. It refuses to go into safe mode, and I don't think reinstalling does anything.

Does anyone know if it's hardware or software? Can I contact apple support via email instead? Or do I have to call them?

THanks.