So I sent the two phones back and waited.
And waited.
I called VM last Saturday, and the representitive was nice, but of absolutely no help to me.
I called again Tuesday, and the rep told me yes, they did receive
something from me, but she couldn't tell what. But nothing had been sent out, including any kind of notification. She got it going, and the phone was here in two days.
(sigh)
They were supposed to send me a new charger and battery, but all I got was a refurbed phone. Fine. I have the like four batteries laying around..... two original Motorola, and the two that I bought with that cheap-ass charger from Amazon. Well, I guess trying to charge the original batteries in that crappy Chinese charger was NOT a good idea.... the Motorola batteries were no good.... but the Amazon ones worked just fine. ..
So- I finally have a working Triumph again. UGH- after three months of using a flip-phone, or that God-awful HTC Wildfire S (the "S" stands for "s**t"), I'm happy. I'm going to leave it alone for a week or so, then start plotting my root. Like I've said- I'm basically clueless about rooting and whatnot, so I'll study everything first... after finally getting a working Triumph, I'm almost hesitant to mess with it now.... but it's comforting to know that it's not a phone that "bricks" easily.
As always, I'll post updates. Thanks to everyone for the help and advice.