Why is it I can't just buy the new iPhone without needing an upgrade?

Question

This has been the most bizarre experience I have ever encountered, and it's enough to put me off Verizon and Apple altogether.
Yesterday, I went to pick up the new iPhone for myself and my wife, having gotten and email that we were eligible for the Early EDGE upgrade. I'm first told at the store that Apple is only allowing 1 phone per person to be sold... Ok, fine. So I get inside and, being the decent gentleman I am, opt to upgrade my wife's line first and will just do mine later that day. Upgrade for her goes smooth, now it's time to do mine. Oh, wait, apparently the EDGE upgrade can be applied to one line, and it was just my wife's; a detail that was cleverly hidden at the bottom of the email in black on grey text after all the marketing copy about how great the new edge program is. The Verizon rep tries to think of ways to get me the phone cheaper, but ultimately can't. I ask if I can just buy the phone at cost, and I'm told no because it doesn't go on sale to the general public until later, though no time is given. Again, Apple's rules.
Now, I'm pretty sure Apple could care less about exactly when someone buys their phone if they have the cash to do so, and I'm doubly sure they don't care about making sure those with upgrades can get the phone. All of this is starting to sound a little iffy. Whatever, I let it slide.
It is now 6pm, still yesterday, and we head into Best Buy to look at cases and see if they have a display 6 Plus to check out, as I'm curious about the size. I ask a Best Buy rep if they have any iPhone 6s left; they do; 128gbs? Yup. Silver??? Yup. VERIZON???? Yup. I'LL TAKE IT! One iPhone 6 at full price please! Oh, wait, no; Apple boogie man says I can't buy the phone for full price, I have to have to qualify for an upgrade. (I'm getting more and more ****** as I'm typing this, FYI). Ok, so now clearly something is amiss. 2 different locations- the official Verizon Store AND Best Buy are telling me I can't buy the phone without an upgrade, and both of them suggesting Early EDGE, even though I have the cash to just buy it. I tweet my frustration to both VerizonWireless and Apple. AC from Verizon Support tweets back sayings they should have let me buy it... Wow, this is ridiculous.
Can someone please clarify this: who is correct here? Is it really Apple playing gate keeper and looking out for those upgrade-only customers? Why is it 2 different places told me the same thing, yet the support rep is telling me something different?
At this point I'm just not going to both attempting to get the phone for a while since this has put me off even trying, but some clarity on just what is going on would be nice. Also, please talk to your Director of Customer Loyalty about his team's email design. While I'm fine with finding out it was just one line, (though I would have preferred both since my wife and I have been on the same account since it opened...), burying that information at the bottom of the email is not going to help retain customers. Expiration dates and other terms of service are fine there, but which line the upgrade applies to needs to be surfaced sooner.

Answer 1

It sounds as if you only had one line with an upgrade available. So you can only upgrade one line. For you to upgrade as well, you will have to wait until your upgrade is available. You can check that at MyVerizon. That's just how it works. All carriers and phone brands are the same. I have to wait until February to upgrade. The only thing you can do to get the new iPhone, is add a new line. But then you're paying for a line you don't need.