Dell intent on replacing my M15x with the lowest M14x

I had an Alienware M15x bought by a family member in the US (removed by admin, private information), whose ownership was transferred over to me in India.

On June 4, 2011, the laptop suddenly stopped working. I contacted Dell Technical Support in India, which promptly sent over a quotation for warranty renewal, as I had overrun the warranty period by a month. I accepted the quotation and renewed the warranty for 2 years with CompleteCover (removed by admin, private information).

Over a period of 2 months, I entertained 6 visits from Dell-authorized site technicians who replaced the motherboard 4 times, the power adapter 3 times, and several other parts including the graphic card, the HDD and the DVD-drive once. The original no POST issue with the laptop was replaced by several other issues, both intermittent and continuous.

After the battery of visits, I was advised that my laptop would be replaced, pending managerial approval. Over a period of 1 month, I made 20+ calls to Dell India, following which I was told that the replacement was approved on August 11, 2011.

I was informed by the case manager that my model M15x had been discontinued and that it would be replaced by the M14x. When I asked why I was being downgraded to a lower model, I was curtly told something to the following effect:

"Your laptop has an international service tag number. We don't replace models purchased in the US but we're making a special consideration for you. As it is, your warranty only covers part replacement, you don't have CompleteCover. If you are not willing to accept the downgrade, we'll shunt you back to Tech Support who will attempt to resolve your issues."

If there was an issue with the country of purchase, why did Dell India decide to offer me a 2 year extended NBD warranty with CompleteCover? In fact, the Dell support site randomly shows 0 days remaining in my warranty. When I call up the support line, they tell me I don't have CompleteCover or NBD warranty.

I tried contacting the Unresolved Issues team on the Dell support site, who sent over a quotation for the lowest configuration of M14x, as advertised on the Dell India site. The customer care executive stated peremptorily that the system that she was offering was an upgrade over my existing system. When I contravened that logic based on the inferior graphics card & screen size, I was told that the price of the next system available (M17x) was too high. I countered that the price of the system that was being offered was 25% lower than my current system.

Dell is not willing to clarify their basis of replacement: the price of my system or its specifications. Their offer doesn’t stand up to either count. Is it my fault that Dell decided to discontinue the M15x right when my system was up for replacement? If they can't offer the M15x, why do they insist on insulting the customer's intelligence with specious offers of equivalent replacements?

Have there been any such incidents related to replacements? How am I supposed to deal with this kind of “customer service”?