Well I was going to say Happy New Year indeed, but bummer that you're having issues.

If it's any comfort about the brifters, R700s were Ultegra level when they were introduced, it's just that the short-reach shifters don't get the redesign with the rest of the groupsets, so they really aren't "crappy," just a slightly older design that's now trickled down to 105. I did have one fail on me, but that was an issue common to all Shimano brifters. I've had zero trouble with their actual performance. (And if you've been using R600s all this time, I'd be surprised if the R700s, which are an evolution, don't perform better.)