Glad to hear you were able to get the replacement process going. Based on what was discussed in this thread so far, if it were me, I would have done exactly that, which is to try to phone back or email back to attempt to get a different human being on the either end, who would be more sympathetic to my issue. I maybe even would have tried two or three times more, in fact, if I didn't get success yet.
Anyway, as for the non-prominence of the protection plan: I saw it on their website when researching what ereader to get. If you go to the homepage, then click "eReaders" in the top menu bar, it takes you to
http://www.kobobooks.com/touch . In the left menu, fourth from the bottom, is "Protection Plan". I'd say that's reasonably prominent?
I purchased the protection plan within 1 or 2 days of purchasing my KT, because I was (still am) impressed that it covers even drops and liquid damage.