YourMobileGuru
Formerly VZWRocks
And I get really sick of people who don't know jack about the law post about contract issues.
And no, you don't need it in writing for it to be a contract. Lay people are always confused about that.
And respectfully I get tired of people with a sense of entitlement. What does one have to do with the other. Show me somewhere in the terms and conditions (your "contract" if you will) where it say that the wireless carrier owes you a free accessory or bill credit if they make a mistake. If you read the sections titled Disclaimers and Warranties and Waivers of Limited Liability it actually goes out of they way to say they DON'T
Unless there is some form of delayed activation (ie when you order online) the contract takes effect when the new phone is activated. Using your phone constitutes acceptance of the contract (terms and conditions).
The reps did what they were supposed to do they activated the new phone but they should have also know that the old phone would need to be programmed again (takes 2 minutes *228 option 1) and the customer would need a new SIM because swapping back to the old phone would have de-provisioned the SIM card that was used to activate it the first time.