I mentioned above that my experience was less that stellar. I had thought that they had not taken my money, so I just decided to walk away from the transaction altogether. A few days ago I noticed that they had in fact charged my CC (through paypal) for the money. I called and spoke with someone this morning about.
Regarding the original issue, they stated that they had some known issues processing paypal orders during the time I placed my order. The CSR I was speaking with retook my customer info, honored the half price, and upgraded the shipping, I should have the stuff in 2-3 days.
Regarding my email never being answered, I asked if someone would investigate. I received notice that they had responded and was given a date. I was able to find the email in a spam folder.
So, aside from the unfortunate problem with paypal it seems like they did everything else right. Assuming the product comes and works (which I don't doubt based on others' comments) I'd order from them again.