Tried this route also, didn't work.
haha! who actually pays these fees?
i've been a customer with Verizon Wireless since VZW started, and i was with BAM before that for 4 years. i have never once paid an activation fee or an upgrade fee or any of that crap. they've tried in the stores, and i get them to waive them. it's actually fairly easy, just tell them "waive the fee or i'll go somewhere else". done.
then i realized if you avoid the stores all together and do everything online, you don't get bombarded with these BS fees that the carriers try to impose