Long List of Problems and no one will help!!!

Question

I have had NOTHING but problems with this phone since the sales clerk talked me into buying it.  I've had it for a little over a year and a half.  It's had "Software" issues out the rear and it's been replaced and still has the very same issues.  YET I can't swap it out with another phone without paying through the nose for a new one.  Verizon sold me a phone that does not work completely.  Verizon keeps replacing it with the same phone and numerous Verizon employees keep telling me that this phone has MANY known issues, LOTS of complaints.  Yet I am still stuck with a phone that is barely useable.  I am so disgusted right now.
Here is just a SMALL sampling of issues with my phone and I am still being denied a new phone unless I want to pay $600. I have 4 weeks until I can "Upgrade"  and I still can't even get an early upgrade.  I have been VERY patient waiting for my "TWO YEARS" to be "UP" so I can upgrade without being robbed.  This in addition to suffering through the Black Berry Storm that SUCKED and was replaced 7 times in a year and a half period due to "Software issues"  I will admit, two of those replacements were my fault - one got wet and the other was stolen, but still, 5 replacements is not acceptable.  Then I went to buy my new phone (Glory day for me) then I get talked into this Fascinate and it's just as bad as the Storm was, if not worse.  I can't seem to win.  I have decided to go for an iPhone.
Here is my list of problems and NO one can fix them, no one can help, I get told that this is a known problem yet Verizon won't take care of their customers that got screwed by this phone.  I've been a loyal customer for 7 years. I love the actual cellular service, I rarely get dropped calls, which is why I stick with verizon, but I am seriously considering jumping ship, because even though I'm loyal, I buy my phones through them, I can't get support.
The SHORT LIST of problems that makes this phone 100% unacceptable:
1)  Can't text 3/4 of the time because a little grey box pops up in the text box and it won't accept anything I type into it.
2)  Have not been able to send picture emails for several months now - Verizon can't figure out why.  My husband misses out on a lot of pics of our kids, I like to text him fun pics of them doing things or when we are on vacation without him.
3) phone freezes up on a regular basis.  Several times a day.  I have to pull the battery out and reboot.
4)  Sometimes I can't answer the phone when it rings - the phone rings and when I slide the puzzle piece to answer the phone, it freezes and continues to ring long after the person has hung up and the only way to get it to stop ringing is to pull the battery out and reboot the whole thing.
5)  a LOT of times, people will call my phone and it won't ring - it goes straight to voicemail.  I have had people call me when they are sitting right next to me and it doesn't ring (and yes, I've checked the volume, it's on, the phone is on) sometimes though, it rings and I actually can answer it, but lately, it's becoming more and more of a problem being able to receive and actually be able to answer them
6)  I can't use Facebook.  It takes forever to actually get into FB and when I do, it only shows about 5 posts before it freezes.  A few weeks ago, I could post to FB but only here and there, now I can't post from FB from my phone at all.  I know that's likely due to the APP - but FB on this phone has always sucked. 
7)  At home, even when I standing next to my wireless router, it says I have "Lost Signal", yet all of my other wireless devices work from 5400 square feet away, on the other side of the house, upstairs.  Even when I'm standing in the Verizon store, it says "Internet Connection Lost"  It is so frustrating.  I am a busy mom and I have 5 minuts to myself and I can't even check FB or browse on the internet and yes, I have checked, all of my connections are set up correctly.  My wireless is enabled on my phone.  But it still doesn't work.
8)  Email - it's constantly refreshing, even though I have it set to only refresh once and hour.  I think I even changed it to once a day.  Instead, that little "refresh wheel" spins constantly on my phone and while this little refresh wheel spins, I can't read email, I can't write email and I can't send email.  When it finally stops and I open an email and the try to respond and write back, that little refresh wheel starts spinning again and then I have to wait until i can get home to a real computer to actually read & Respond to email. 
9)  Calendar inputs the wrong time.  I had a dentist appt at 9:30am.  I set it as 9:30am.  When I saved it, it changed it to 10:40am.  I went back into the calendar function to change it thinking I had input the wrong time, but no, when I went to edit it, my 9:30 time was set, I hit save again and saving it changed it to 10:40.  WTH?  I can't even rely on the calendar function.
10)  Two weeks ago, I woke up, looked at my clock, which I also rely on as an alarm clock.  The room was dark.  The clock said 5:30am.  But for some reason, it felt later.  Sure enough, I get up, check my husbands alarm clock, it's 7:30am.  I am so thankful I had a gut feeling and looked at another clock.  I did not change my time zone on my phone (in fact, I went looking for Time change stuff and I couldn't even find it.  Then two hours later, the phone went back to normal time all on it's own.
11)  Text messages occasionally pop up and it tells me it's from Jay Smith (Not real name) and when I open the actual text, it's from Sarah Jenkins (not real name)  WTH?  How am I supposed to rely on text if its confused itself?
12)  Phone shuts itself off all the time, several times a day.  All of a sudden I will hear the musical tone of my phone shutting down and then at some point, it will turn itself back on.  When I turn it back on, it resends out old text messages (See below)
13)  Text message randomly sends out old text messages to people that I sent text messages out to months ago.  So the people will text me back saying "WTHeck is this about?" and I look and it's an old text message I sent them a month or two ago.  It usually does this when the phone freezes, shuts itself down and restarts.  I have found out that IF I delete my text messages timely, then it won't resend out any old text messages, but I am not very good about deleting stuff and often times, text message contains some important information that I haven't yet had the time to copy down and save.  I shouldn't HAVE to delete my text messages so it doesn't randomly send out text messages to people.
14)  Often times, I will send out a text message and it will fail to send the message and I get a text message saying my text message has failed. 
I could go on, but I think that will give sufficient evidence that this phone stinks and that Verizon should give people owning this phone a chance to get a new phone without raping their wallets.
Maybe someone here will listen?  Because no one at the store does...  I pay for Verizon service that I barely even get to use because my phone doesn't perform like the guy who sold it to me told me it would.
CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW????

Answer 1

  About the only thing I can say is to keep going to Verizon, or calling customer service to get them to look at the issues. I talked to 1 rep that told me to dial either 4# symbols, or 4* symbols (Can't remember which it was) after I got the VM message but did not have the phone ring, so it would mark my account record and they could search and troubleshoot the issue.
  As far as your upgrade, I think you have done the right thing so far, and that is signing up on this forum, that way you can look at the different phone forums and see what issues that people are having. Talking to people that have the phone is a great way to find out what the issues are. Verizon Sales reps will only sell you the latest and greatest, or if there is something that they are being told to push to get out of stock.
  Going with an iPhone is ok, just make sure it is correct for you, because like you said earlier, once it is done, it is done and you are stuck with it for 2 years. I had a friend who made a knee-jerk reaction to a bad phone, and did the same thing. They regretted it after 6 months. I am not saying the iPhone will be bad for you, just make sure you do your homework.