Gene, I am sorry that you are disappointed with the results from your combo's slider.
When I had a regular table saw, I skewed the blade slightly relative to the miter slot, so that only the leading edge of the blade touched the wood cut on the cross-cut side. I skewed the rip fence a couple thousandths away from the blade, so that only the leading edge of the blade touched the wood cut on the rip side. My cuts were very pretty, with no blade marks.
When I got my combo (also a MiniMax), I learned that the blade was set up absolutely parallel to the slider. This means that both the leading and trailing edge of the blade touch the work, leaving cross-scratches on the cut. MiniMax confirmed that was the correct alignment. After the initial panic, I found that the scratches were very shallow... so slight, that I find it easier to sand out those scratches than to sand out the jointer scallops if I edge joint. Bottom line, I practically never edge joint - I get better results from the saw and the slider.
My rip fence came in bubble wrap, so I had to install and align it myself (nobody to blame but me). Initially I set it up like my old table saw, with the fence canted slightly away from the blade. Pretty cuts, but the accuracy was nothing like I was getting on the slider side of the blade. (Bottom line, I finally set the fence parallel to the blade, and got the accuracy but with a few scratch marks.)
Why do I harp on accuracy? When I set up the cross-cut fence on the slider, I got it aligned so that a 5 side cut was only off about .004 inches (the thickness of a sheet of copy paper). That is the combined error in four right angles, plus the error in perhaps 15 feet of cutting. The best part, I did the calibration three years ago, and it is still rock solid, even though the fence and outrigger have been on and off countless times.
Many people have laughed at .004 inches in woodworking, but my work now comes together better than it ever did - I have to remind myself to check for square in carcases (and if it is off, I can usually trace it to a clamp that is skewed). If you don't think .004 inches is much, try adding a strip of paper to a well-made tenon, and see if you can get it into the mortise.
I can understand posting here on a weekend, when the MiniMax office is closed, but I would be interested in what they said when you called them today.