I don't seem to have a lot of luck with portable hard drives! My poor empeg(s) have gone through three and now my Rio Karma's hard drive died after a month of use

I need some help with the proper procedure to use here. I bought the unit from the US via my ex, who lives in PA. She bought the device onilne and sent it to me in the UK. Now it's broken, and the UK's RMA procedure is "send it back to the dealer".

What should I be doing so as not to confuse the Rio? Emailing Rio in the US? I presume they'll be reluctant to ship a Karma all the way to the UK for me, won't they? Anyone have any experience of these kind of shenanigans?

-nic