[Ed Zachary]

It took one month and three hours on the phone to get VZW to replace a dead Touch Pro with something equal or better. Each tech support person we talked with would tell us the phone needed to be replaced, but the warranty people wanted to play games. At one point they sent a "refurbed" Alltel TP that looked like it had been skipped across a parking lot. After going into "broken record" mode with them, insisting the phone be replaced with something equal or better, they sent an Eris. Because that was the only thing they had in stock.

And they extended the subsidy period another four months, chalking it up to a manager-overridden upgrade instead of a warranty replacement. Payment for their hassle, I guess.

Trying to upgrade continues to be a circus. A rep will tell me one thing over the phone, insist I come in to the store, then say that what the previously told me was incorrect. "Sorry if it caused you any inconvenience."