How do you handle slow-loading video studies without hurting your acceptance rate?

Had a rough session last night and I'm trying to figure out if this is on me or just Prolific being Prolific.

I started a study that was basically short videos with questions after each one. My home internet is solid; calls, streaming and speed tests were all fine, but inside the study the videos kept buffering. I would wait, it would play a few seconds, then freeze again. The study timer kept counting down and I got stressed because I do Prolific as a side gig, not something that should give me anxiety.

I ended up returning it because I was worried I would time out or end up submitting garbage answers since I could not watch the videos smoothly. That left me with a few questions:

1. If I return a study for a technical issue that was not my fault, does that hurt me long term? I know returns are better than rejections, but I do not want to build a pattern.

2. Do you message the researcher in these cases or just return and move on? I do not want to start a back-and-forth, but I also feel bad that they are losing data.

3. Is there any practical way to screen for these ahead of time? When a study mentions "video" or "AI" it feels like a coin flip whether it will run fine.

How do you keep this from turning into a stress spiral? Looking for any tips or routines that make these hiccups less annoying.