Well, Apple sold me on the notion they have the the strongest smartphone glass ever that has nano-particles stronger than metal infused into the material. And it shattered when I dropped it 10 or so inches onto a plastic leg of an office chair. While it's theoretically possible I am sure to crack under the circumstances (and I spelled this out already), it seems very unusual and pretty poor performance for what's said to be very best smartphone on the market in this regard. And yes, I am fully aware the emails don't go to Tim Cook (which is why I said the Tim Cook email). There are people employed at companies like Apple to handle full-time such complaints/concerns that reach the company through the Cook email and the BBB and various other avenues. They're more than welcome to tell me to eff off if they choose, but this is a business and there is a calculus built in that suggests in some circumstances it's actually beneficial to the company to refund a dissatisfied customer. They can tell me if this qualifies. They can certainly afford it, and in fact have these sorts of things baked into their budget, while for myself $250 for a new piece of glass on my phone is quite an expense. I provided all the details honestly in my complaint. Lastly, not sure 'entitled' is quite accurate. I've spent a fortune (for me) on Apple products and services over the years, and also on Verizon products and services. As they say, nothing is truly free, and I understand the only reason I got a 'free' phone from Verizon in the first place is because they've had numerous analysts determine that it actually benefits them to offer it as such.
I was mainly curious to see if this sort of thing is more common than I suspected, and it seems it truly is sort of a one in a million thing given the exact circumstances. I was also interested to see what the latest situation is with Apple stores and their customer service in terms of covering such things even is a device is 13 months old without Apple Care (which I no longer purchase because the phones have to this point been extremely resilient). I'll be interested to see how they respond and will update accordingly.