[bubu]

...just got my replacement via the link I provided earlier. They shipped it fedex overnight, so 1 day turnaround, not to shabby. Sadly I got a refurb that does not even look refurbished, more like used with minor nicks & scratches on the screen etc. Oh well...worse comes to worse I'll have to make a trip to the corp store.

*EDIT*

since posting I have discovered that sprint classifies phone exchanges into three categories...and only dips into the higher category when the stock on the lower category runs out.

reconditioned - someones used phone that that sprint flashed back to stock rom...will have nicks & scratches etc.
refurbished - someones old phone in a new case + any defective part replaced & fixed
new - brand new phone in box with accessories

sadly, the higher a failure rate a handset has the more likely you will wind up with a "reconditioned" handset when exchanging.