I agree! Distributors usually have a well established area and I'm sure it's not for Mares USA to intervene into something going on in Europe (which is too bad, knowing how Phil and Zak give great customer support here
).
This said, if I might give a bit of advice (or my oppinion)... I believe it should be the store you bought it from that should be fighting with Mares for them to warranty this. Obviously, this has happened before and you did not attack it with a screw driver (no comment on this remark they made...
). Your first line of defence should be hassling the store again to push Mares to warranty it. Let them know you know it has happened before to others and that the screw driver bit is just... well you know...:no If the shop still insists they won't do anything for you, make sure you tell them you'll be taking your business elsewhere from now on... and move to tactic number 2... Contacting your local Mares distributor directly and try dealing with them. You never really know exactly how the dive shop pleaded the case to the distributor. Tell them the same things how this is not normal... How you were not satisfied with the customer support given to you by the dive shop. Who knows, it might work...
When dealing with this, be firm... but BE POLITE!!! Believe me, when dealing with warranty questions, especially ones that are past the official warranty period, mouthing off gets you nowhere quick!
If all this fails, I'm pretty sure the pocket could be fixed by putting in a new PoP rivet. Although, I do agree you shouldn't have to fix this in the first place...
Not sure could Zak on the board help as hes associated presumably with Mares America and not Europe
I hope you can get this fixed up! Good luck!