I got my email this afternoon. This evening, I received a phone call from Best Buy wanting to schedule an appointment. I live on Long Island and have read here that in the two counties on Long Island (Nassau & Suffolk), Best Buy can only accept trade-ins of phones that were purchased at Best Buy. So, I asked if there were any restrictions on the trade in for the $200 promotion and the caller confirmed what has been posted here. I was told that it has to do with some type of pawn law. I have read that some people have traded in "pay as you go phones" to qualify for the promotion. So, I asked whether I could just buy one of those $20 phones and use that as a trade in. He didn't know and said that he'd do some research and call me back once he found out. After finding the post where someone said that he had traded in a Net10 phone, I went down to the local Best Buy (which is only a mile from my house) to talk to someone in person. When I got there, I was told that the person who I spoke with had spoken with Corporate and was told that, while this phone could be used as a trade in, it had to be outside of it's 14 day return period before I could do so. So, had I bought the Net10 phone when I pre-ordered, I could have used it as a trade-in. But, since I hadn't been told about this law at that time, I didn't know to do so.
I then asked if my pre-order could be transferred to a Queens store. My office is not far from the Nassau/Queens border. So, going to Queens to save $200 is certainly worth it. The salesman called Corporate, explained my situation and asked if there was a way pick up the new phone at the original store and trade-in the old phone at a Queens store. He was told that they both needed to be on the same transaction. He then asked if it was possible to to transfer my pre-order to a Queens store. He was told that he couldn't. But, he could cancel my pre-order and create a new pre-order to be picked up at a Queens store. So, that's what he did. I'm now at the end of the pre-order line at the new store. But I don't need a new phone so quickly that I'm going to give up the $200 instant rebate.