Nikon CoolPix 5400 digicam focus discrepencies

I've been a "Nikon Man" for almost five years now, but I'm not too happy with Nikon lately. I bought a CoolPix 5400 about two years ago, as it was loaded with features. But six months ago, I started noticing that the image displayed on the camera monitor tended to NOT predict the sharpness of the final image--the images look "soft" and lack the clarity I used to enjoy.

This is a real embarrassment as I take a lot of industrial images. What's worse, everytime I try to contact Nikon online, I end getting these "internal error" messages while thanking me for my "patience".

What's wrong with my camera? Is it a drift in focus calibration? Can I correct it with after- market software so I don't have to send my camera half-way around the world?

Finally, is it just me, or are there others out there getting frustrated with Nikon?