Dude, same thing happened to me last year, one call fixed what a month of emails couldn't.

That line about the nonstick coming off in flakes got me, been there with a $50 Zojirushi clone that started peeling around week six. Here's the thing nobody tells you, those cheap nonstick cookers have a coating that dies fast if you so much as look at it with a metal spoon, and the hinge is always the first thing to go on the flip top lids. My move now is a plain stainless pot with a glass lid, no coating to flake, and I just do the finger trick same as you. One knuckle of water above the rice line, bring it to a boil, lid on, lowest flame for 18 minutes, then kill the heat and let it sit 10 more. The sitting part is what people skip and its the whole secret, the steam finishes the job while you do something else.