IPod broken out of the box - Apple Store calls me a liar

Question

I purchased a 5G iPod a couple of days ago, and when I opened it, there was what appears to be a hairline fracture in the LCD (not on the outside of the screen, but on the inside), which caused the margins of the crack to be black and squiggly.
When I took this to my local Apple Store (Austin, Barton Creek Mall), the employees took turns, in increasing rank, calling me a liar. The accusation was made in the sissy, evasive tones that store managers take, but what it boiled down to was a refusal to exchange my device because he insisted that what I was telling him (that it was like that out of the box) was not true. I was treated with such polite distain and condescension that I left the store with a vow not to purchase any more Mac products there... ever. Not a mild conviction either, as I run a small business and tend to purchase $5 - $7k worth of Mac products annually.
I discussed the issue with a physics fanatic whom I am acquainted with, and he seemed to be under the conviction that a flat plane of a fragile substance, no matter how well protected in the device or the box, would crack if dropped far enough and at a certain angle. He said the conditions necessary to crack it that way would be fairly rare - thus explaining why the issue had never presented itself to the fussy store manager - but not so rare as to be unplausible or incredible.
What I was most disturbed by, however, was that the store was more willing to risk screwing me out of $300 than they were to risk eating the replacement. I had assumed that the store would err on the side of taking care of the customer, but was very sorely mistaken.
However, now I'm just ranting. My topic for discussion is this: Has anybody else experienced this? A defect out of box that was rejected as your own abuse of the iPod, or a screen cracked against odds?

Answer 1

Hello Jeremy.
Sorry to hear you had this experience at the Apple Store but I would contact AppleCare and as hard as it may be for you, I would refrain from ranting about the Apple Austin Store when doing so explaining this fracture was present when the iPod was first opened.
Apple will send you a shipping box and return label. When returned, Apple will run a test on the iPod to determine if the crack was caused by abuse. Obviously this screen fracture was caused during shipment or was present before being packaged that went unnoticed but I don't see you have any other option at this point.
Or you can use the iPod service request form.
http://depot.info.apple.com/ipod/