[mrkai]

Actually there are a couple...and I have seen both.

1. The device was damaged in shipping by mishandling. Apple as a policy deals with this by sending customers shipping boxes they design for reasonable safety in transport. I don't know if Sony did this, but if PCH packed the thing in not the best way, it could have been damaged.

2. The tech doing the service could have broken it, and well, is not honest.

I have seen this happen with bench techs. In fact, I was personally responsible for getting one at a company I worked at dismissed for this. They were in a rush and inadvertently replaced a top case assembly wrong that shorted the main logic board when the machine was plugged in.

What he told the *customer* was that it looked like the machine was damaged via a power surge and was not covered by the warranty.

Suffice it to say that I reported this and he was fired.

In both of these cases, what PCH put in the box could have easily not had a cracked screen.

Either way, a line tech is not going to give him satisfaction, and if he doesn't have any photos or video of the state of the product when he packed it*** then he's going to have to come up with another solution.

PCH, if you end up having to replace your reader or get another one, I suggest some other brand. The Cybook seems to really be the most versatile in the price range; the Kindle, if the Whispernet is attractive to you and buying lots of ebooks is your thing, might be a better bet.

But if Sony isn't going to satisfy you, I personally think it would be foolish to throw another $279 at them. I'd take the hit and call it "one to grow on" and move on.

-K

***Because of my own personal experience, I actually photograph what I ship to people (RMA's, eBay auctions) and video the actual final packing/sealing/applying of the shipping label over the tape.