I've had several similar experiences: (1) iPhone replacement for uneven LCD edge lighting, (2) iPhone replacement for quirky physical button problem, (3) Replacement of white Macbook due to malfunctioning iSight camera (even got away with newer unibody model).

Sometimes you've got to know how to approach the situation to skip past the standard questions and get the ~5min response time. As mentioned, you pay for it up front. With other brands, these sort of things aren't even considered issues.