re: Broken Hinges on Precision Workstation Laptop

re: I work in an educational environment and had to recently call dell warranty support for loose LCD hinges. Now this laptop cost in excess of £1000 plus a 4 year next business day warranty on top of that . I called our usual support number and got through to Glasgow Uk only to be passed to Bangalore, India, the Indian cousins told me the broken hinge is not covered by our 4 year warranty as its caused by opening and closing the screen? I did suggest to the call agent that to actually use the laptop relied on opening the screen to use the laptop and he assured me this was what had loosened the hinges. I asked to speak to the manager who was very polite and he too suggested the fault is not covered by warranty though also suggesting the screen had been opened "too many times".

I was not aware of any limit on the screen being opened and closed and funny enough was never around the laptop to count how many times it had been done.

So has anyone any info for the following questions:-

Whats the limit on opening the lid (round number will be fine)

Are the hinges covered or not by a 4 year business warranty? (not cheap but obviously useless)

How do I use the laptop without opening it ? I have to open it to switch it on!!  (External monitor springs to mind with external mice and keyboard)

I was asked to take a photo of the movement of the hinge , but as any good support person will tell you a photo does not show movement !!!

To photograph the hinge would have meant splitting laptop ? ( Could fix it while I'm there I hear you say )

Splitting it may void the warranty that does not cover it....Catch 22

Thanks for your time