Stripped side panel holes

I've been nearly pulling my hair out over the past week at the thought of having to replace my case. I have the Spec-Omega White and a couple months back after taking the side panel off, I noticed a screw wouldn't even go in the hole while trying to put the panel back on. I took a closer look and saw that the thread on the hole had been completely smoothed over. The same thing had happened to the screw. I hadn't tried screwing anything too hard or even noticed any cross-threading. This was probably the fourth time I had ever taken the side panel off (over a 6 month period). I just kinda sucked it up and managed to get the screw to pop into the hole loosely.

 

Now I have another one starting to feel like it's ready to strip any day now. I don't use excessive force with my screws and have made sure everything is lined up before tightening. I inspected all my screw holes and noticed a fair buildup of metal fillings. Is this a defect with the screw holes? Or is this case just not meant to be opened after building your PC? If it a problem with the material, is it possible that I could make a warranty claim?

 

Edit: I was just looking my case over and noticed the top panel has a grill that is rusting under the paint. Is that a good enough reason to make a warranty claim?

Hi MangoMountain,

 

Sorry about the troubles with the case. I know how stripped screws can be frustrating. I would go ahead and submit a ticket on our support site. Please also include the info about the rusty grill on the ticket.

 

Corsair.com/support

I did last night but the site won't let me update the ticket with the pictures of the rust. Fingers crossed it'll work tonight.