I have to admit I haven't even heard of the company. It's such a shame that you had that experience though.
My experience with the Kobo has been fine. I sent one back because I felt the battery life wasn't up to snuff. Had a new one two days later. I HAVE had some issues with the "new" one lately with ghosting and, suddenly, what appears to be a shattered screen (the physical screen is intact and it's always stored in the Roots case in my purse...) so I'm not quite sure what to do about my situation. EInk is the only way to go for me. I spent far too much time looking at this computer glare.
In terms of which device, well, like any technology, there are going to be some failures among a good crop of devices. You and I just got unlucky I think.