Retail and corporate differences

I learned a new thing about cell phone carriers last night. Well, at least with Verizon Wireless. As of June 16th, I'm up for a renewal on my phone, so I went in to the corporate store and asked them about getting a free phone and they told me that due to my phone being the secondary line on our account, I had to pay for mine, versus Vern getting his free if he chose to, with the primary line. Their cheapest phone was basically $60. I said forget it, we weren't looking to pay that right now, I'll just stick with what I have a little longer and deal with any problems that crop up now and then.

Then last night we stepped in the retail store, to ask her 'how we could save money on our bill, because the sign at the door told us to ask how we could save $25. We stood there at the door and debated if it was worth it, and decided sure, why not, couldn't hurt. This place sells Verizon, but isn't called Verizon, therefore making itself a retail store, not corporate. I didn't realize that makes the difference in 'retail' versus 'corporate'. All you men or better educated women can laugh now, if you already knew this.
In the course of conversation with the sales rep, I asked her about getting my phone renewed and repeated what I'd been told. She looked at me as if I'd grown a third eye, and we got to checking on this, and not only was she able to get me a free phone on our plan (They are no longer selling our price plan, meaning we'd have to upgrade, which we weren't going to do now.), but she also gave Vern a free belt clip for his phone when she saw him checking them out.
Now that's what I call service! I will definitely go back to her, versus the corporate store from now on! She bent over backwards to keep us as Verizon customers, and I liked that.

Apparently with corporate stores, they have way more rules and regulations they have to follow, whereas Money Talks, or whatever her store was called, doesn't. Since they aren't employed by Verizon as such, they only have the minimum of guidelines to follow. Needless to say, I was glad!

How many of you use Verizon? What other cell carrier do you use?