Colored and white lines across iPad screen

My son bought the original ipad in November 2010, it is now only a few weeks out of warranty. He turned it on tonight and as other people have mentioned on this forum the ipad now has coloured lines across the screen. I called customer services and I must say i am extrememly disappointed with the response I got. They offered me a replacement for £260..... no other explanation other than it may be a hardware problem. After paying £600 for the original ipad only just over a year ago I would expect better from Apple. Myself, my husband and my three children all have iphones and other apple products but I must say if this is the support you get then I would consider other options in the future. Very disappointing....... If anyone else other than a customer service agent who reads from a script can help then please get in touch. Thanks