Doug,

You should email detailed info about this to ben@consumerist.com. Consumerist writes about this sort of issue all the time, it's not the first time Sony has pulled this crap, and other companies are doing so as well. Often after being publicly shamed on Consumerist, the company magically discovers that an "error" was made and you get a new camera. You might also search Consumerist for email addresses of execs at Sony.

Another approach is to take legal action. If you have an email from someone at Sony admitting there is a problem in their shipping process but they still are refusing to honor the warranty, that's a class action lawsuit waiting to happen. Or you could simply sue them in small claims court and most likely they won't bother to show up and you'll get a judgement for the full amount of the camera.

Third option, if you paid with a credit card, is to call your credit card issuer. Many of them provide automatic replacement insurance that covers this sort of thing.

And next time... buy a panasonic