Well I went back to the ATT store today because my phone still wouldn't hold the voice mail number.Ii was told by a different sales associate that if that happened  I should assume the problem was with the account and that I should come back in again( that's the third time) and they would deal with it.

 Fortunately the sales rep. I dealt with yesterday was not there. I had come to suspect that he was more the problem than ATT.

First of all a couple of corrections: My phone cost $29.99 not $39.99 after discounts and rebates, and the rebate was $50, not $70. This made me think that the cost of the box valued incredibly at $50 might have something to do with the coupon on the box.
 I was assisted by a very knowledgeable and friendly sales rep who informed me that some of the things I was told about ATT's policy were  incorrect. for instance; if my or my daughter's phones continued to have problems  the restocking fee would be waived after the third trade out. And while that is an inconvenience, it is definitely better than being told that I could continue to trade out the phone for the same model as many times as needed.

 I still have issues with a restocking fee for a product that does not do what it should, but I can understand that it can take time to adjust to the complexities of the phone and the company would rather not rush in and replace it with a different brand when the problem is the customer adjusting to the new technology. Some things may not be actually functional problems. For instance finding the "zoom" on the camera took the sales rep. quite a bit  of time, but she did find it. I was  beginning to think that the phone only brought it up occasionally & was malfunctioning. I was wrong.

 On the other hand, $50 for the box? That still baffles me. Perhaps Best Buy absorbs some of the costs because their sales reps don't work on commission or they have enough other products that they can absorb the lost costs associated with  now having a "used phone"
Even the ATT manager whom I discussed my frustrations with  admitted that actually understanding the thinking behind the policy was complicated and not all that  clear to him.  I can live with that. What I had difficulty with is an uninformed, impersonal sales rep. passing along erroneous information and seeing my frustrations and questioning him multiple times it never occurred to him to seek out a higher authority to offer  another,better explanation or possibly admitting that he did not understand the policy himself.

Acting like the automaton extension of the company will  bring down reactions some people might otherwise save for the faceless corporation they do not trust and or like, but feel they must do business with occasionally.

My daughter did a job very similar to his so I restrained myself from coming really unglued, but the man across the counter from me did not. I don't know what his beef was but he did tell that sales rep. to cancel his account  even if it was going to cost him more.
He said he was fed up with coming in a dealing with his problem. At least he didn't curse at the rep. That does happen  and that is unfortunate.

So, so far things are working ok.
 I will delay the details of shopping for a dishwasher for the next entry.