Guava

I was transiting through SIN on SQ recently. When I arrived at the hotel in SIN, I discovered one of my two laptops had a cracked and thus unuseable, LCD screen when it was placed inside the checked luggage. I typically carry two laptops with me and that one was inadvertently placed in the checked bag. In the past, when I did that, there was no damage. But I will make sure I avoid doing that going forward.

In any case, so I went back to the SIN airport, I told SQ what happened. I thought SQ took care of it graciously. The lady at the First Class check-in counter actually closed her station, tell pax on the queue to use the Business Class check-in right besides and she personally took me through airport security to inside of the SIN's luggage claim office after the secured area where the luggage belts are located. She waited there while her colleagues assist me in filling out a luggage claim form & report. The whole process was very smooth and they were very apologetic about the incident and at the end, I was giving a file and a claim report. They ask me to repair the laptop and send them the bill since I am about to leave SIN. I was really impressed with SQ's customer service.

When I came back to the U.S., I sent that laptop for repair, the bill was just above $620 USD to fix the LCD. The money is enough to buy a brand new laptop...which I thought was outrageously expensive. So I sent the bill to SQ and filled out all the necessary forms. A few weeks later, aka, yesterday, SQ sent me an e-mail and tell me they are willing to reimburse me $434 USD and they also make it clear that SQ is normally discharged of responsbility in damaged goods while in transport and they are doing it as a customer service gesture.

I am just a little surprise that SQ actually wants to haggle on the repair cost. Granted, the repair price is somewhat outrageous but it's not as if I get to name a price. I can't say I am unhappy about the whole experience because SQ did show some excellent customer service throughout the whole process but I am just a little surprised they close this with a haggle. I sense they obviously want to negotiate/haggle. What should I tell them? By the way, I don't have any status with SQ although I am a Star Gold and usually fly SQ in First and Business class. I wonder if I should tell them: "That's fine, I'll take the $434 payment from you and you save some $186, but next time when I fly SQ A380 First Suites to Japan, I will make sure I book it under NH Codeshare instead of SQ. See, I can meet you at halfway too, just not sure they are of equal value though, can you tell?" Or maybe I should just drop it, take the $434 payment and shut up? Whatever it is, I want to keep this friendly. SQ has treated me well, the haggle is unfortunate, but no need to make a federal case out of this.

What do you think/suggest?