Screen cracked Compaq Presario C500

Hi, I've got a hp/compaq laptop that has been having screen issues for awhile. It started as a couple vertical lines on the right side of the screen and has grown over the past couple of months. My friend said it was from the ribbon cable that connects to the motherboard being pinched or faulty. If I applied pressure in certain ways to the screen i could make the lines go away. So anyway, flash forward to today and I open up my laptop and my screen is a mess of liquid colors. There is a spidering of cracks originating from the bottom of the screen and when I pushed on them the screen proceed to crack all the way across it. There are multiple fractures in there now and teh screen is obviously screwed. My laptop is still under warranty however. I called up tech support and they said they would send a box and I would ship it to hp and it would take 7-10 days and if it was determined that the problem was caused due to an accident they would call me.

My question is this: the screen is definitely cracked, I don't know what happened but I did not physically drop it as far as I know. I don't know what criteria they use to determine this, but I don't want to send my laptop in only to find out a week later that they are saying I broke it and it is not covered under warranty and then charge me an arm and a leg for the service and new screen. My laptop is crucial for my work and I need it serviced as fast as possible, especially considering my desktop just crapped out on me too. HP said they don't offer local authorized repair (i am in nyc), so I can't bring it to anybody local with the warranty still standing. I am debating just ponying up for the cost of a new screen. I've seen them going on ebay for about 150 bucks. How hard is it install these things? How much would someone normally charge? Will I need a new ribbon cable too or does that normally come with the screen? I'm certain the problem is strictly physical and hardware based because right now I am utilizing my laptop via an external monitor and everything is fine. Anyhow, any help to advise me would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!