$300 bucks is better than taking out builder warranty insurance or stuffing around with VCAT.
Moral of the story: Don't give up and don't talk to the office girls. Go straight to the top of the company and demand to speak with the head hontcho and negotiate something with compromise.
We recently had an issue with our coffee machine and wanted it replaced, got nowhere calling the office people, hotlines etc, finally went on Twitter and sent a Tweet to the company, picked up a new machine two days later. Very happy result and we didn't give up!