Activating a replacement iphone, help....

So I send in my iphone for repair and I get a new one. No big deal right? Wrong! AT&T wants to charge me for a new activation even though I have the sim from my previous iphone, and have their service.

Apple says it's AT&T, AT&T says it's Apple, I just want to activate my replacement iphone without having to pay the stupid activation fee.

Has anyone ran into this, what did you do, did you get charged? I'm starting to hate AT&T......

 

The closest Apple store is about 2 hours away. I plugged it in to my Mac and I got the activation screen. I cancelled out and on the main screen, had a feature to restore to a previous date. I've been doing that, but when I turn off the phone, then back on, I have no service. I have to plug it back in and do the restore to a previous date. There are 2 other dates stored, when I first had the loaner phone, and my previous phone settings. The loaner phone is the same, no service.

I called AT&T and was told I would have to pay for an activation. I don't think this is fair since I already have their sim card from my other iphone. I was told this is a new phone and I would have to pay for activation. I think I'm going to keep asking for someone higher in the company until I can get by this problem.

Geez, phone breaks, send it in and get a new one. Not my fault, but have to pay more money to activate a replacement? Not fair, not at all.