White macbook: upper case cracked at edges. Is replacement possible?

My Macbook has cracked casing edges at the front and sides. There is also some cracking at the top edges of the screen that I'm less worried about as it is not leaving anything exposed. It's well out of warranty with no Applecare, but I read on a US site (I'm in the UK) that Apple considered this a manufacturing defect and were offering a free replacement. I never received any notification of such a program. Can anyone clarify whether this was indeed the case, and if it was a time limited offer. If not, what are my options?
Thanks

Hi Fatjim,
It's been over a year since your post, so I hope you receive this query.
My daughter's white plastic MacBook -- about the same vintage as yours or a bit newer: Aug 2009 -- developed those well-known top case cracks about 2-1/2 years ago, within the 1-year warranty (I didn't even know about defects covered beyond that point). Was directed to a very good, nice, decent Apple support and repair store in NYC (which is a miracle, believe me!!!). No computer sales, just support. Very specialized and very personal. Completely different from other "authorized Apple" support stores in NYC. They replaced that one top piece quickly and for free. But perhaps a year later the top plate started developing new chips all over the place. I e-mailed Manny -- a terrific guy -- the person there who'd helped me before with both her Mac and mine, to ask about it, but got no reply. Maybe he missed it. E-mail is fallible. With a high schooler who "depends" on her Mac (social stuff as well), getting it out of her hands for any length of time is not easy, so I didn't pursue it further.
Now, it's 3-1/2 years old, but still functions perfectly well for all her needs and seems likely to for at least another year or more. (I know my MacBook Pro of the same vintage shows no sign of becoming "old" in any ways whatsoever.) But now her cracks, as with some other in this discussion, have extended further, and the entire frame around the screen -- directly around the screen and the entire top frame that holds the screen -- have cracks and breaks that really worry me functionally. (I have to press it down in the back after she closes it to get the top shell and bezel that hold the screen to snap back together at one, point, but there are holes, and yet new cracks forming!) I'm finally getting the courage to upgrade her machine from the Leopard OS it came with to the Snow Leopard disk that arrived with it, which I should have done immediately, but fear it will be for a machine that can't hold together. STILL...it does seem like a true manufacturing defect in all places. She's really a very careful kid.
Here in friendly NYC you'd be hard pressed to find any store that says "Apple" on it to actually do what they're supposed to do -- it's time spent on paperwork they could spend on something more profitable. Except, I hope, the one I used before, who has all our information, but has not seen me since 2010 or 2011.
My wife works for a well-heeled school that replaces all their harware every two years whether it needs it or not. To them, 2 years = out of date. But she gets her stuff for free. My daughter and I do not, and we really cannot afford to just replace the machine -- especially if it's working just fine, even with all the cracks and holes. (The economic recovery has not reached us, big surprise.)
YOUR success story caught my attention for this very reason, as did someone else's, here in the US, who mentioned a five-year period for cracked plastic on these things. So I want to clarify what you or anyone else has done.
You say you contacted Applecare. Is that right? What/who exactly is that? Who/what number do you call or what web site do you go to to find folks there who are truly helpful?
Do you need a special Applecare contract that we would have had to buy at the time the Mac was bought?
It really sounds like calling someone at the right # at Apple (esp. with their current Congressional tax problems!) might give me a "number" of some sort that I could just bring to Manny, or whoever is there, when my kid goes to camp and say:  "Here, they said to replace all this crappy plastic. Apple will pay."
Any advice or solid info from anyone would be GREATLY APPRECIATED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sorry this was so lengthy -- putting it off so long just made it grow and grow.
- Dave

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