I'm going to post my story, might as well, right?
I ordered my Kindle Paperwhite on Friday (18th) and received it today. I have a defective one as well, a couple of dead pixels and a blue blob (don't mind the blue blob, do mind the dead pixels though) in the middle of the screen (
overall kindle (big blue blob) and
close up of dead pixels (sorry don't have a macro lens for my camera)). Talked to CS, didn't ask any questions (aside from shipping address and credit card verification) about the kindle which was surprising but anyway, he ordered a replacement for me, should get here on Thursday. Will update when it arrives. I do hope that I don't have to go through all of the trouble that everyone seems to be going through to get a 'nice' one, it sounds horrible. >.<