Liquid Spill Dispute--Anyone Have Advice/Similar Experience?

Thanks for the vote of confidence. I'm definitely not accusing Apple of lying--merely sticking with their knee-jerk reaction and not looking for any other alternative explanations. Which also makes sense, too, except that this time they're wrong.

I didn't buy it with a credit card. The insurance might be a possibility. The person I talked to on the phone was quick to suggest those options as well. I'm all about the path of least resistance, whatever gets it fixed, but then that's me doing the legwork for Apple's faulty product.

BeProf:

I hear what you are saying, but no one has ever spilled anything in the computer. It's my laptop, I live by myself, never really even take it anywhere, and I'm hard pressed right now to even think of an instance of someone else using it, let alone spilling something in it while I'm not around.

A spill can't be the only explanation for corrosion inside the computer. I've read a lot of threads by people have problems with condensation. Maybe that's the case--the laptop does get pretty hot. Unfortunately, I've also read a lot of threads by people who get stuck with a bogus MBP because Apple claims liquid spills are the problem.

Eric:

I'm the only person in the apartment.

It was a first-generation 15"MBP (I ordered it the day after last year's keynote) and it has been somewhat unreliable since I've received it.

The random shut off has always occurred, though to some extent less since I took it in for the complimentary battery replacement. The other problems have also been long occurring aside from the keyboard failure that prompted me to finally take it in.

But the computer has never actually left my possession for anything up until now, so I don't think refurbished parts or replacement computer is an issue.

Thanks for the support.

Thanks everybody for all of your help and advice so far. I have a couple questions regarding some of your replies.

First and foremost, BeProf:
I've got a sinking feeling that you're right. You said you've been on both sides of the same situation. If you don't mind, can you elaborate on what happened when you were on my side of it?

When you guys (or girls) are talking about getting a second opinion or taking it to an Apple Certified Service Provider, are either of these options steps toward getting any use out of my warranty? Principle aside, I'm afraid my available fundage for this project is pretty much nil. Even if we're talking getting charged less than what Apple is asking, I'd probably opt to keep using my unreliable computer as is.

Boece: I know what you mean about an insurance claim--that's why I'm not seriously considering that route either.

No, no one used the word corrosion. "Liquid damage" was as specific as it got--no indication of what kind, how much, where at, what's broken, etc. All I know is that there's liquid damage and lots of it. I did go ahead and ask for pictures and more details, but I'm not crossing my fingers that the story is going to change. Not without some kind of ammo--is this what a second opinion will do for me?

No, I don't live near the ocean. The computer has spent extended periods of time in beachside neighborhoods (Venice, Colombia), but wasn't really getting opened or used. Never on a beach.

I don't know how much fight I have in me. I can make noise, or talk to people who will make noise for me, those are about the only tools I have at my disposal. I'm fighting hard with the urge to be self-righteous--I know that's not going to get me anywhere. But I'm sad and more than a bit steamed that this computer is looking more and more like a $2233 mistake and that I'm not even getting the redress that I paid for.

Something else I thought of:

It appears that there's a really good Service Provider in LA authorized to do AppleCare repairs. I'm not sure if that means they honor warranties or what, but my question is this: If I take it to someone there, should I bring up the issue or will that be shooting myself in the foot?

Well, an update for anyone still interested.

I e-mailed Steve Jobs with a brief and polite e-mail summarizing the problem and requesting to me taken at my word. The next day I received (actually, missed) a call from Robin Roberts, from the Executive PR team asking to speak with me about the problem. Since then, I've been unable to reach her and I'm guessing that her absence has something to do with the Texas branch being closed down.

In the meantime, I've put in a couple calls to AppleCare. The first representative was extremely polite, put me on hold while she went through my "notes", and then returned trying to convince me that it was time to come clean and give up. She made a number of factual errors (for example, "It appears as though the liquid got in through the keyboard via the key that has been removed," I removed a couple keys after my keyboard stopped working, which was only the most recent problem). I was told that pictures had come back, they were pretty incriminating, and that they had been sent to my e-mail address (they have the correct one) yesterday at 10:30am (5 days after requesting them). I haven't gotten an e-mail with any pictures yet so far.

During my second call, the representative explained that it's being looked into, there are pictures attached to my file, and that it's pretty high up. She was the one who told me about the Texas problem and told me to just sit tight. So that's where I'm at. Still completely in the dark, but I guess I'm making some progress?