Review on Microplane Elite Multi-Purpose Box Grater - Five Grating Surfaces, Including Fine, Coarse, Ribbon, Ultra-Coarse, and Slicing by Monica Harris

Based on the existing reviews I have a feeling that the grater I received must be defective. It's practically useless for two main reasons: 1. The biggest surface with the biggest holes just doesn't work - like the blades aren't at the right angle or something, because when I try to rub something it just slides across the surface of the blades with little to no damage. Today I tried to grate some parmesan (the main reason I wanted this grater) and I had to resort to thinner surfaces because I got NONE of it when I tried this surface. Other finishes weren't great and required a little pressure to get the blades to engage, but the biggest grate was useless. The piece of plastic that holds the cheese in the grater cannot be removed by hand. For some reason they made a tab that sticks out so small I can't grab it to get the part out and I had to resort to some pliers from the tool kit. Needless to say it's coming back, but I'm really amazed. I wanted her to work. I had a previous version of this grater, and while it worked well, it had the flaw all these reviews point out: the plastic body was cheap and quickly broke and fell apart, leaving tiny, hard bits. Plastic in food is not good. I was really hoping that this version would fix that problem - and it seems so, but at the cost of some other usability factors.