I want to cry now

[mighty_aphrodite]

I don't know whether to sell my puppy for laptop money or make a rug out of him.

Here's the scenario.  We are parked down the block from our apartment.  Max, the hubby, and I are walking out to the car.  I am holding the leash and am burdened by a very heavy (40lb, I estimate) backpack.  Hubby starts to cross the street, unnoticed by me.  I am walking down the block, intending to cross further down, closer to the car.  The puppy (leash in right hand, curb on my left) runs after the hubby, cutting behind me.  Desperately trying to lock the leash, I am spun around, thrown off balance by the pull of the (30 lb) puppy and the weight of my back pack, trip over the curb, and land flat on my back in the street.  Ow.  After a few moments, I am able to move, and I hobble to the car.

But the fun doesn't end there.  

When I get to campus, I discover that my laptop LCD is shattered internally.  My Inspiron 600m is now a $900 paperweight.  Great.  But I think, well, I'm in luck.  A month ago, my laptop developed a small problem with the LCD and Dell promised to replace it.  I was waiting until winter break to send it in when it would be more convenient for me to be without my computer.  Oh well, I'll just have to do it earlier than I thought.  No problem, right?

Wrong.

Dell is refusing to replace it because my warranty doesn't cover accidental damage.  I very patiently explained that they had already agreed to replace it before and I didn't understand why more damage to a part they had already agreed to replace was a problem.  To no avail. I requested an escalation to management.  All I got was endless repetition by the supervisor (I'll call him Punjab) that accidental damage was not covered under my warranty and that it was my responsibility to take care of my equipment.  I asked for a second escalation (not too politely I'm afraid, but I was pissed) and am awaiting a call back from upper management... scheduled for 20 minutes ago

****************************************

Okay, just got off the phone with the third level person (I'll call this one Apu).  Apu says they'll try to make the repair depot understand that there was already a replacement pending on the part before the accident and try to get them to replace it free of charge.   But apparently, it is up to the depot whether or not to charge me for it (wtf?) and that someone from the depot will call me before replacing it if they intend to charge me.