Was it an actual corporate store or authorized retailer?
Corporate store. Big one, too. I went in to sign up for a family plan, get a non-smartphone for my wife (Octane) and preorder the RAZR for me, and they wanted to give me the tiest phone they had in the store - some old and busted flip phone with no camera that was probably worse than the original RAZR in every way - to activate my line. I argued with her, stating that they should either wait to activate my line at all until I get the RAZR, or give me a phone that's actually
representative of the phone I'm buying so that I can get an accurate picture of the service I'm paying for (this is my 14 day eval period for the plan, after all). She asked which phone I wanted and I told her the Bionic is probably the closest they have. She then asked her manager, and the manager (over the phone) agreed, but said he would "split the $70 restock fee to switch to the RAZR when it comes in", so I'd be out $35 just to use the phone until the preorder phone comes in.
I just backed away from the entire deal, saying I'd prefer to just wait or do it online. The woman did everything but bar the door to keep me in the place to sign up for the new account.
I also confirmed the $70 fee with the iphone "specialist" they had in the store.
Irrelevant story for this thread, I know, but it certainly indicates how the salesperson even confirmed it with her manager and it was verified by another rep in the store.
btw, what's with VZ stores not having live phones to try out? Coming from sprint, this is really a letdown. I expect that from Best Buy, but come on! No demo units in a dedicated VZ store? What the hell am I going in there for?