Wow... great job!
Not everyone has what it takes to be persistent and make demands til they finally get what they want.
Good for you!
Edit: on a side note, I'm glad you wont be changing your name to Motothebestdroid
Haha thanks man, I was actually thinking about that, I was like yeaa this name works for this too!
How did you convince them to make this offer? is calling in really better then going to the store?
In all of my experience with Verizon, (circa 2001) calling is ALWAYS the way to go. If you go to the store, chances are they won't do much of anything for you and it's a big waste.
The CSR reps on phone are great (most of the time) you can always call back and get a different one (I've actually been told to do that because everyone is difference)
Anyway when you are explaining to them your problems, like mentioned above, explain to them VERY nicely, (politeness goes along way)
that you have gone trhough your refurbs(if you have) and having the same problems again. Tell them you have started with pulling the battery(this is what is called a soft reset) to no avail. You then tried a factory reset(what they call a hard reset) and after this hard reset you decided it is best NOT to install any apps, and you STILL are having the problems as they sometimes try to blame third party apps as the cause(there is no way to check about any of this so it doesn't matter if you actually did any of this or not) .
So, you've expained that the soft and hard resets with no apps installed, and still having the problems mentioned earlier. This is were you gotta let it be known you are not happy ( keep in mind, don't be a jerk, that will get you no where as no one likes to be talked down to, and they will likely do nothing for you)
So tell them that you are not happy that you are paying blah blah a month for a smart phone and for me( silent bug) couldnt even make a phone call.
I am on a family plan, and have been since 2001, with 5 numbers to the plan, and tell them as nicely as possible, that if soemtime isn't taken care of and no I don't want another Eris, that you and your family plan are gunna be bringing your service to ATT. Trust me a CSR rep on the phone does not want to loose a 9 year, 5 number family plan over a $199 phone that they totally have authority to give to you for free.
So she laid out my options, offering me the moto droid.
This is were my expertise can in place,
explain to them that as this is a GREAT offer and as you don't want to come off as it is, thatyou chose the Eris for specific reasons, and if you wanted the moto droid you would have botten it to begin with. I then told her why would you replace an HTC phone with a motorola phone, WHEN a brand new HTC phone which is basically the Eris just, with all the problems (hopefully ) fixed. she told me she would go talk to her Supervisor.
She then offered to give me a $199 credit for my Eris (which I got to keep), and then told me that I could go to the store and get whatever I want with that credit, I told her yea thats great but im not due for an upgrade and im not paying anymore money, and if i was id be using it to cancel this contract and peace it.
she said hold on, came back and here is were it got interesting,
she said OK here is what we will do for you,
we are gunna cancel out your existing contract(free of charge) and open up a new two year contract(free of charge) and give me the inc at the online discount price($199) which the credit they gave for my eris covered. SO, I had to front $100, BUT I gety it back with the mail in $100 rebate,
So in the end I got a brand new Inc, will be here Tues! cant wait, and go to keep and sell my old Eris ($150)