My graphic card failed but passes the recall test - surely Apple would replace it? How wrong can you be!

Question

Even though I had read about the product recall on some iMacs, mine had never had an issue, but to be safe, the plan was to take it to an Apple store to have them test and replace it.
A week ago, on occasion, the screen suddenly started going completely gray, everything else seemed to be working fine, and any apps running would continue to do so. Without being able to see the screen, the only options was to power it down, run any diagnostic test and start normally. It passed pro tools tests, with no warnings so I thought it could have been a software issue. After many restarts without anything else plugged in, the iMac appeared to function for maybe a day or so, but gray screen whenever it wanted to.
So I called Apple, they told me to get it into a service centre, and they would do further tests. Whilst on the phone to the engineer, my iMac with the gray screen suddenly refused to power back up. The engineers tell me that the graphic card fails any benchmarking tests with corruption and the same gray screen issue, so it looks promising yes? No. The specific tests that the machine must fail for the recall - passed.
Having spent almost an hour on the phone to a Apple senior advisor today, he tells me that it is not covered by the recall !!
The machine is one of the matching serial numbered machines in the recall, it has suddenly developed a graphic card issue that leaves the machine unusable, it suddenly started having this problem within weeks of the recall being announced - It has the faulty card in it, it has the fault - yet it does not qualify?
Can someone please tell me what I could have done to get this card replaced without the estimated £250 charge to get my machine running again.
I am a die hard Apple enthusiast, I have converted everyone I have been in contact with to purchase from them for their legendary customer services and yet feel perplexed as to what I should do next.
My first reaction is to raise a big fuss about the situation at an Apple store, but I can't blame them too much if my machine does not match the recall criteria - but come on, it can't be a coincident that this card has failed now, can it?
What do I do next. I don't want to take my machine over to proper Apple store and raise a fuss, that would be counter productive. But  really Apple
Anyone have a suggestion - would you buy another iMac that could have the same problem and get the same response?
To any Apple engineers out there who can look at  a case number my ref number is 500592345, apparently there is a lot of info in there, but nothing that will help me!

Answer 1

Apple engineers do not participate here. The only replies you will normally get are from people who are, like me, just fellow users, and there's nothing any of us can do to intervene in this matter.
If Apple says that your system is not covered by the recall, there's not much you can do. You can try taking your system to an Apple Store and politely - do not "make a fuss"; polite but gently insistent is much more likely to get you useful results - ask for assistance. Or you can call Apple tech support, ask to speak with customer relations, and explain the situation to them and request coverage under the recall program.
If all that fails, though, then you're probably at a dead end and will need to pay for the service if you want it done.
Regards.