India, June 27 -- At what point does a customer cease being a customer and become fair game?

I've been writing about technology long enough to know that pricing isn't always rational. But this episode left me rattled-not because of the money involved, but because it exposed something quietly corrosive about how companies treat the people they claim to serve.

Here's what happened. My daughter dropped her two-month-old phone. Sometime later, the screen blanked out. These things happen. But we had been reassured when we bought it that the warranty would cover some kinds of screen damage. So off she went with her mother to the authorised service centre.

They were first told the screen repair was covered under warranty. A little later, a ca...