I got my 8gb refurb two weeks ago without signing anything but giving them my name. It could have been any name as they didn't want to see ID or something...
Weird thing happened last week, I went to the AT&T store to get another two refurb. iPhones. This time they wouldn't want to sell me one if I don't take a contract or register with AT&T.
I told them that the phone is a present and that they will register online via iTunes but they refused to sell me the phone without registering...
And to be honest I really wanted to buy them as presents.
They told me problem is that lots of people come to buy the phone in the store, take them home, unlock them and then the phones get bricked and end up back in the AT&T store. They told me they want to prevent that... I told them I was not planning to "brick" my phone but they still refused.
Did anyone find a good argumentation around this yet?