iPhone 7 Plus receiver volume issue

For several months I noticed my receiver volume was too low to hear anything. I would have to turn on the speaker to take calls or use the earphones. I didn't realize so many people were having the same issue. I ran through all the troubleshooting steps, including factory reset from iTunes but my one-year-old phone is no good.

When I finally called the Apple Support, they told me it'll cost me $350 to fix this issue. ****..my warranty expired in December 2017.

It looks like many of us are having the same issue. And it's now a known issue.

Can Apple make a one-time exception for me? How are others dealing with this issue outside of warranty period?