[Blossom]

The OP is from Australia. I don't know if Squaretrade is international?

K3s do go bad it doesn't mean the Kindle product is something to avoid. I would call Kindle support again. It sounds like you got a bad rept to me. It can happen more so lately is the norm. On the little email you get where it asks if they solved your problem click No and fill out the the feedback form. Once that is finished it was ask you to contact them again. Ask for a discount on a new K3 or even refurbish unit with a discount. There is the $69 Kindle which is $89 for international. It's a great Kindle. I suggest buying the black version. It has better Quality control.

My K3 is from 2010 so yes a non defective Kindle can last a long time. I've had to do a few factory resets indexing likes to get messed up on the K3 for some reason. I do not have this problem on the K4s as they improved the firmware alot.

Make sure you have the latest firmware. There was an issue where people with a large Archive had random restarting this was fixed in 3.4 Firmware.

I would try a factory reset and loading a few books at a time then letting them index by plugging the kindle into the wall or pc. If it freezes after a certain batch then you know it is a corrupted book causing it. Remove that batch and see if the problem goes away.