I must say, I am surprised at your bad lusck with Polaris. You must have lemon.
I absolutely love mine. It's on it's sixth season and all I did (outside of scrubber and bag replacements) was replace the belts last year and some other stuf that came with the tune up kit while I had it apart.
Yours may not be climbing because one of your hose clamps inside the unit broke and thus not generating enough power through the venturis.