Apple Free repair service denied Cupertino California

I am the owner of an IPad II for which I bought an Apple Care Plan (accidental damage not included) that is still active until December 2013. 

After I tried to upgrade my iOS to the newest version my IPad wouldn't boot up anymore and therefore was not usable. I went to Apple's support page first and tried all the troubleshooting steps recommended for my problem; however, this was to no avail. My next step was to contact Apple and discuss my problem with a technical support representative. The troubleshooting steps that this rep took where to no avail as well. He offered me to send my IPad to their repair services and that Apple would set the return up for me and pay the cost. I was very happy about this and sent my IPad in this week, expecting that they would take care of my technical issue.

Today I received an email from Apple's repair service that all warranties are void because my IPad has a dent on its frame. I was and am aware of that little scratch/dent to the surface of my IPad, but this dent didn't cause my IPad not to work anymore. However, because of this dent Apple expects me to pay $249.00+taxes to perform a repair on my device. 

I contacted Apple immediately on their Chat line and tried to reason with the rep that my problem was not caused by a small dent, but rather by the corruption of my file system during the attempted upgrade. Unfortunately that wasn't good enough for Apple. In the end the Chat rep advised that I call in and talk personally to a senior advisor. 

This senior advisor offered to send my IPad back - unrepaired - and as soon as I receive it, I could call him again and we could try some more troubleshooting over the phone. If tht wouldn't work we could go from there. The return of my unrepaired IPad would take 5-7 business days and there is no guarantee that the additional troubleshooting attempts would be successful, which would bring me back to the starting point, that I would have to pay $240.00 +tax for the repair, because a little dent to the frame of my IPad made all warranty claims void.

In my opinion this shouldn't even be a warranty issue. Even if I don't have an extended warranty plan, if a software upgrade causes my device to malfunction, it should be the responsibility of the manufacturer to make my device usable again. 

The senior advisors refusal to have my IPad software issue analysed by their technicians, rather than sending it back to me for additional "phone diagnosis' made me really angry and I told him that I would contact Apple's corporate offices about this issue (which I did), that I would file a complaint with with the BBB and that I would file a report with Ripoff Report, which I am just doing now. My unrepaired Ipad is on its way back to me now because I refused to pay for the repair and Apple's senior advisor was 'nice' enough to send me a link about their legal policies by email. 

Apple sells high-end devices to its customers with a big price tag. In my opinion there customer service should be according to these price tags. To deny the repair of a software issue because there is a tiny dent that never interfered with the function of the IPad defeats common sense. I feel it is just a means to an end to squeeze more money out of their customers. 

If I receive a response from Apple's coroporate offices I will update this report. I felt however, that people should know what they will face if they try to have a technical issue caused by Apple's software resolved, if their device is not spotless like on the day they bought it.