My point, is that you reffered to the problem as a 'kink' that needed ironed out. I'd say its nothing that need ironed out, its just that a drive has gone dodgy as you will find with any product of this nature.

Your unit is under warranty and I can only assume it will be honoured. I don't know how it works in the US, but in the UK you don't deal with the manufacturer, you can just return it to the store where you bought it from and get a replacement on the spot.

You may have to deal directly with the company if you've gone down the eBay route, but then, I'd expect that to be the case.