dude, what gives?

for the past week, i've been getting calls once a day from verizon customer service. most of the time, they've called while i'm out/busy and i see i missed a call later. i got calls like this at the start of summer, but the time they caught me, they inadvertently hung up on me part way through and never called back.

from my point of view, here's the scoop:
(1) in september 2003, i started a verizon account. i got a 2 year contract that guaranteed me a new free phone when i started my next 2 year contract.
(2) in september 2005, i went to the verizon wireless website and chose said free phone. my understanding was that i was only getting it free because i was renewing my contract.
(3) for the past year, i have happily used my new phone without problem and wanted to keep it for at least another year

from verizon's point of view
(1) #1 above is true
(2) #2 above is half true. they gave me a new free phone without charge through the website, but they didn't renew my contract, so for the past year, i've been paying month to month while i *thought* i was in the middle of a 2 year contract.
(3) apparently you only have 6 months to just "extend" an old contract, and since it's more than 6 months since my 9/03-9/05 contract, either (a) i start a new 2 year contract now 9/06-9/08 and get a new free phone NOW, (b) i start a new 1 year contract and loose the new free phone every 2 years clause, or (c) i keep paying month to month and get begged periodically to start a new contract.
after some discussion and realizing that verizon basically let my contract lapse and me go from month to month without sending me something that says "HEY! your contract is expired, renew before such and such date", i decided (a) was the best option. farewell to my motorola E815 (i love that thing), but instead they're sending me a free razr phone... hopefully i'll get to be friends with that too.

i just wish i had known about points (2) and (3) sooner than a year after my last contract expired.

p.s. i hate being sick.

the end.