Andrew, I feel your pain. Dell tried to pull the same stunt on me. My husband is in the military, and we were able to purchase our Dell laptop through a discount arrangement they have with AAFES (Army-Air Force Exchange Services). When my hard drive died, the first person I spoke to a Dell was very helpful, but when subsequent problems occurred, they tried to argue that since I purchased the laptop through AAFES, the United States Government was the "real" owner of my laptop and that they could no longer speak to me about it!

I followed the instructions to transfer ownership as well, and in the day or so between that conversation and the transference, my warranty expired.

Although my current problem was a continuation of the problem that began under warranty, they declared that since I was no longer under warranty, I would have to pay $49 to receive any assistance via phone.

So good luck with your situation Andrew. In my case, I took the laptop to Circuit City, where they fixed my problem for thirty bucks and a whole lot less headache. I hope you fare better.