Computer Shops & The Broken Laptop Hinge

Fear strikes me whenever I have to return broken electronic goods: in this case, it was the hinge of my laptop. It's been broken for sometime now, but today was the day that I decided to finally get it fixed since I was tired of finding ways to prop up the screen.

The laptop was originally bought at Future Shop, a Canadian chain of computer/electronic stores. Although, the manufacturer warranty had already expired, the Future Shop warranty which was also purchased at the time was still valid.
I took the computer to the Returns desk; as usual with these high street outlets, I expected a long wait; they prefer to invest in sales rather than customer returns staff. Eventually, a young lady approached me, 'how can I help you?' she said with a look of annoyance.
'My laptop hinges are broken, I've brought it in for repairs; it's covered by the Future Shop warranty.'
'Have you seen the technician yet? He needs to check what's wrong with it...'
'No... I already know what's wrong with it... the hinges are broken.'
'You have to take it upstairs and have him have a look at it before we can proceed with repairs.'
The technician was a small man who seemed to be on the telephone alot. I waited patiently; okay, I lied, I was majorly irritated. When the phone calls were finally over, he walked over to the door where I was standing, 'how can I help?'
I scanned the man's face which was devoid of all emotion, 'I've brought my laptop in to have the hinges repaired, they're loose -see...' I demonstrated by opening the screen and fanning it up and down. He repeated the action.
'Do you have any valuable data on the hard drive?'
'Nothing's wrong with my hard drive, it's the hinges...' I stressed.
'Yes I know, but we may need to open it up, and data may be damaged.'
That wasn't an acceptable explanation, but I just agreed for the sake of getting on with life. He signed my warranty and I took it downstairs; once again prepared for another long wait; nobody was at the desk. A young man showed up and without saying a word took the warranty that I handed to him. After five minutes of repeatedly tapping the same key on his computer which was apparently down, he printed out another receipt which I had to take up the stairs. I plodded back upstairs.
This time the technician was checking data on his computer. I could feel my precious life ticking away. I coughed for attention. He came over to take the new receipt from me and produced a clipboard for me to sign. He turned the page over, and asked me if their were any passwords on the computer.
'I'm sure you won't need any passwords to fix a broken hinge!' I replied defiantly.
'We may need the password for testing. Do you have any passwords?' He glared at me.
He must have been quite convincing at the time because I actually told him 'yes', then he asked me what the password was; I clued into his game and told him that I didn't have a password.
'Is it alright to delete the data on the drive?' he droned.
At this point, I had given up on the notion that I could convince this guy that the hinge fault was a mechanical problem that had nothing whatsoever to do with the electronic hardware. I just nodded impatiently, 'yeah, do whatever...'
I have my fingers crossed for two weeks, and pray to the god of laptops that everything will be fine.