Jim,
If you contact us via our cservice@shunyata.com account, or via phone at 360 297 8960, I guarantee you will have a reply within the same day most likely, or certainly within 24hrs. We have over 22 people at the factory most days and several dedicated to customer service. Please send me the number or e-mail that wasn't working for you and I'll try to find out why.
Regarding the stock cord, I have already sent reminders to our dealer base. In your case, however, as I said before, if you have HE cords upstream, I would not recommend the 12 gauge stock cord for the Hydra, and neither would our dealers.
I already sent you my contact details and you may contact me directly.
Grant