thanks @flipster. please do keep me (?us) posted on whether you hear from them or if you manage to get a refund.
so far i've sent Green Reader about 5 emails and received replies to 2 of them. from the forums, it does appear that other PB distributors / retailers are much more responsive than them (that was partly why i decided to buy a PB in the first place), and had i known then that they'd be this unresponsive, i'd have bought it from someplace else. that said though, i've waited so long already, i'll just wait a bit longer and see what happens!