IPad 2 Volume button problem.

I'm so unhappy with Apple right now!

I have a white Ipad 2 (purchased november 2011) and several weeks ago out of nowhere the volume icon appeared on the screen and stayed there eversince. The volume seems to be stuck. I did not drop my Ipad and have to guess that there was something wrong with the volume button from the beginning.
I've been reading a lot of posts from people having a simular problem with the IPad 2 volume.

I live in the Virgin Islands and there's no Apple store here for me to take it back to. The Ipad was bought in Texas and I had a friend take it to the Apple store in Puerto Rico (easier than sending it back to the mainland) for me to see if they could help me. He gave me back my Ipad back with the message that I had to send it back to my inlaws in Texas so they could take it to the store it was bought in and that they couldn't help since it wasn't bought in the PR store.

So I express mailed it to Texas and my father-in-law took it back to the store it was bought. No luck there either, he was told that this would not be covered in the warranty because it must have been dropped since there's a dent in the volume button. This is absolutely NOT true, It DID NOT drop!!! I He was told I could send it in for repair but that it will cost a lot of money. How unfair is that?? I've only had my Ipad for a couple of months and have it protected with a hard case and a smartcover (and stored in a neoprene sleeve).

Anybody any ideas on what to do now? Will my only option be to pay for the repair if I want to keep using my IPad?

 

They say that the reason the volume button is stuck is that there's a dent in it. Nothing ever happened to the ipad so it must have been like that when I bought it. Just never noticed it, this is my first Ipad and I wouldn't know what the volume button should look like. The damaged button isn't very obvious.