What I find sometimes when dealing with support is to take a deeeeeep breath, have patience, and get ready for a long call.
Just out of curiosity, to ask a silly question, how long is it taking you to read the 300-400 pages?
If you are going through 1 reading cycle and the battery is completely dead by page 400, definitely defective. If it is taking a week or 2, it is perfectly normal as the device is still on even though you aren't using it.
As for Sony Support, I had a nightmare of a time upgrading the software with Windows 7. It took around 2 hours, the rep stayed on the phone with me the entire time until we were both satisfied that the issue was resolved.
Definitely hate to read stories like that, but as mentioned....this may be the exception to the rule.