Unable to activate iPhone 5

Question

I ordered my iPhone 5 through apple the first day it was available and I finally received it in the mail today. While trying to activate it I encountered that the number that was synced with the phone was not my number. The screen instructed me to contact AT&T and Apple about the issue. While in a conference call with apple and AT&T the first thing they did to try and fix it was deactivate my old phone. Next thing I know, my phone I am using no longer works (and they later stated that it could not be reactivated). As I use my cell phone as my primary phone I was forced to using skype to call them back. They sent me the right model of the phone but they made an error in shipping and the phone they sent me was actually switched with someone else's. I was told to fix this I needed to go into an apple store and exchange the phone. Unfortunately the reason I ordered it in the mail in the first place is there is no apple store anywhere near where I live. I explained to them that this was really not a possibility. After 4 hours of being on the phone I lost count of how many supervisors I had been transferred to and eventually they transferred me to someone who had no information on the case but suggested I should mail it back to them and then they will place an order for a new phone. They also suggested that I pay for expedited shipping if I want to receive a phone in a more timely manner and that they are sorry for the inconvenience that I am without any phone for 10+ days.
Has anyone else experienced this issue with receiving the wrong phone and if so has anyone received a better outcome?

Answer 1

Were you running iOS 7 beta?  If so, as a developer you need to log into the Developer forum for assistance.
Not a developer and running iOS 7 beta?  <edited by host>