will apple just replace connector dock instead of whole phone iPhone 4S

My iphone 4s was plugged in overnight to the wall charger and appears to have short circuited (there are small burn marks on the charger dock and phone will no longer respond to being plugged in anywhere).  I spoke with the Apple tech today and they recommended sending the phone in for repair.  The phone is dead and won't take a charge so I'm not able to go in and back anything up before sending it in.  Is it possible to request that Apple just replace the connector dock (provided that would fix the problem) so that I get my same phone back?  Or is this a lost cause?  Will I Iose Itunes purchases that hadn't been synched to my PC yet?  I am freaking out thinking about all the info (contacts, apps, music, photos) I stand to lose.