That's lame. When I was shopping around for a crash replacement frame, I went through 3 shops on the east coast who were all willing to try to locate me a frame. They work through different warranty reps, and they were trying to find some new old stock out in a shop somewhere, and so they were going through their different regional reps too. Any Specialized dealer ought to help you out with warranty issues (and although it's not a "warranty" exchange but a "crash replacement", they still deal with Specialized's warranty department). That's because Specialized won't let you do it yourself. I mean, what if you bought the bike in a different state? Hopefully your friend will be able to help you check out those options.