Since both of the readers you bought from this reseller had the same problem within days of each other, I suspect it might have something to do with the way the reseller was handling and/or shipping them. Maybe what they were doing was causing some type of stress on the substrate, but it took a few days to actually break.
Sorry this happened to you--hope you can work something out with the person/company you purchased your readers from.
Good luck!
dordale
