Apple has poor warranty-honoring policies and doesn't empower their technicians enough

I've had my current iPhone for about a year. It has worn pretty well but it does have a crack the white plastic casing that doesn't interfere with its functioning. It started to get slow and unresponsive, then stopped reliably sending or receiving calls. Finally, the phone got all static-y when placing voice calls without having speaker phone turned on. I made a Genius Bar appointment and my technician wanted to issue a replacement, but said that the crack required a second opinion. The next technician refused the replacement based on the crack, which had developed independently of the problems above and in fact existed before I had the call-connectivity and static problems.

I bought my first iPhone the day they came out. I've paid for two more iPhones since then. Apple not honoring my Apple Care/warranty has me very upset. I'd very much like it if Apple refunded my purchase today of yet another iPhone since they refused to warranty this one.

And what's up with a technician who wanted to give me a replacement not being allowed to do so? That's awfully bureaucratic and really undermines the carefully crafted aura of competence that the entire Apple Store is built around.

The other troublesome trend is that it is clear to me that Apple has stricter warranty policies than in the past. I had an issue with my 1st-Gen iPhone and Apple replaced it with very few questions asked because it was the right thing to do – and they were trying to give the iPhone a good reputation when it first came out. Now that the iPhone is such a success, it feels to me like Apple doesn't care as much about quality/warranty-honoring. Boo.

Apple, I've been loyal iPhone customer since day one. I feel like I got the shaft here. Please contact me and let's work this out.