The person who asked you to open a ticket was actually declining to solve your screw problem. They figured there was a high chance you would not bother to open

The person who asked you to open a ticket was actually declining to solve your screw problem. They figured there was a high chance you would not bother to open a ticket. Also if you do open a ticket, they can assign it to someone else and from their point of view the problem has gone away. The person recommending a clamshell replacement was telling you "I don't know what screw goes in that hole and actually I don't know how to order that off the vendor's website". They do not turn screws for a living and don't have the technical vocabulary to cope with your problem. The only way they can get rid of you is to make it the vendor's problem; which means they need to transform your problem into something in the vendor's catalog. Hence, clamshell replacement. When you went on-site with a ticket it seems like the front desk had no easier option left than to find a "screwdriver turner" (with the big pile of broken stuff in the back room) and get them to actually fix your problem.