Hi bookrapper,
That sounds really frustrating. I do not know if this will help, but these are a few things I do for general maintenance of my mac. They might be worth a try.
1. Safe boot your mac for directions see: OS X: What is Safe Boot, Safe Mode?
2. Repair Disc Permission using Disc Utility. Open Disc Utility. Select the Macintosh HD and click Repair Disc Permissions.
3. Emptying Caches is another thing I frequently do. I hesitate to describe it, but this is what I do:
Move all of the files in 1. Macintosh HD > Library > Caches 2. Macintosh HD > System > Library > Caches and Macintosh HD > Users > YourUserAccount > Library > Caches (You need to click the go menu together with the option key to go the the Library file of your user account) to the trash. You will need to enter your computer password to move the first two sets of the cached files. Restart your computer an empty the trash.
I do not know if any of that will help with your situation, but those are things that have been been recommended to me for general maintenance and miscellaneous problem solving. If you have not already found another solution I hope maybe one of those things will help.
If not perhaps you could find help through Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=200438360&ref=kcp_ma c_menu