Before you return it... try troubleshooting like I did... I thought the same thing as you UNTIL I took a closer look... a very much closer look. It will appear as if the batter is dead because the animation is slow. If you look very close where the I.T. goes into the "V" shaped piece... it may just be caught up around on he wrong spot... a quick alignment and BOOM works super quick and I figured something out.
All magic should be toyed with, looked at, experimented with, etc. Don't automatically think something is garbage because you can't make it work as good as the demo... PRACTICE, PLAY, and keep an open mind.