Manufacturers' Warranty Exchange?

My 40GB PS3's Blu-ray drive knocked out on me last night, apparently something wrong with the optical laser reader is what I learned from the internet, and Sony said they would attempt to fix my machine and send it back, if not they would send a refurbished system.

Has anyone else had problems with their blu-ray drive, and don't you find it unsatisfactory that a refurbished system will be sent to replace it? Essentially, they're sending a defective unit from another owner, which has been fixed, to me as a replacement. I was reading online about how good Sony's warranty policy is but this doesn't seem right. I've only had the system for about seven months and they want to send me a refurbished unit.

Does anyone know if this is their official manufacturer's warranty poilcy?

Yeah. They send you a box to return your system in, and if they can't fix your system they'll send you a "system certified refurbished" unit or something. I opted for them to return my system if they can't fix it, however foolish that may seem. I can't stand the idea of MY unit being replaced with someone else's unit that has been fixed.

And apparently, according to the Sony reps, the only replaceable parts in the system is the HDD. Though I found something on the net showing how you can fix this optical laser reader. I'm not sure if I'm tech savvy enough to do this. If it's this problem, and some tech nerds somewhere can fix the problem, I'm sure Sony should be able to handle it and send me my system back.

I hope these drives don't make a habit of konking out all the time.