iPod Saga, Part Two

If you are just joining me on this trip, you should probably scroll down and read the prior post to put the following exchange in context.

Within 20 minutes of filing a dispute claim with Paypal, I hear from the seller:

Hello,
We apologize for any inconvenience.  We will gladly
replace your iPod.  We will email you a shipping label
which will cover the cost of return shipping.  Simply
print out the label, attach it to the package and drop
it off at your nearest FedEx location or dropbox.  Be
sure to package the item securely, as any damage
caused during shipping will be your responsibility.
As soon as we receive the defective item we will ship
out a replacement.  For future reference, your RMA# is
DS062806.

Thank you,
Dena
MobilePC

I assume that this email was spurred by having filed the claim, but it sure sounds like they are proactively responding to my original request to the support team, doesn't it? Note that they are choosing to email me directly and to not post messages through Paypal, something Paypal suggests so that there is documented evidence of dispute resolution. Not surprisingly, 12 minutes after this first message, I get the following:

Hello,

According to our records you have a Paypal hold on
your account. You will need to cancel the dispute
before we can issue you a replacement. Please let us
know when you have removed the dispute and we will
then issue you a return shipping label for the
defective iPod.

Thank you,
Dena
MobilePC

Interesting timing, huh? It almost looks as if they were responding to me independently and in the process of taking care of the issue, they realized that I had filed a dispute. Of course they couldn't be staging this process, right? They issued an RMA, but didn't give me a method for actually sending the device back yet. So, I have just enough to feel like this is being taken care of, but I can't actually get it taken care of yet. So, I respond back:

Dena,

There is no hold on the account.  I filed a dispute
with Paypal regarding this purchase.  You, as in
MobilePC, should have received notice not that long
ago.  In fact, you emailed me not long after I filed
the dispute, so I assumed you were contacting me in
response to the dispute itself.

In any case, I don't see any reason why I should close
the dispute until you have satisfactorily resolved it.
I appreciate that you are willing to replace the
device, but I don't have an RMA, have not yet shipped
the device back, and obviously haven't received a
working device.  Closing the dispute prior to getting
a working device cuts off the only method I have for
effectively resolving this issue.

If you are unwilling to process an exchange while the
dispute is open, I am happy to forward this
information to Paypal and request an investigation to
settle the matter.  I would prefer to simply get the
RMA, send the device to you, and get the exchange,
though, and be able to update Paypal that I am
satisfied.

Sincerely,
Dave

And, now I wait. Let's see if there is a FedEx shipping label or if they tell me to shove it. I realize now that I did have the RMA, but that doesn't help me much, does it?