^^I called Betta today, described the issue and the history. The rep (Maria) told me to spray WD40 on the gear and wait five minutes and call back. While I knew this would not work because of how frozen the gear was, I complied.
After that did not work, I called back and Maria said the repair would covered under the warranty from the last repair. She sent me the shipping documents and I will be be sending the Betta pack tomorrow.
I asked what current turnaround repair time was and she said 7-15 business days, 20 days max. This was due to the large number of repairs they currently have.
Note to self and other Betta owners: save your shipping boxes for the all-expense paid trips to Santa Fe Springs, CA.
Darn, I love this product when it works!