Thanks guys for replying.  It is troubling to think that perfect strangers are MORE willing to help, than is the company that I pay money to each month for "service".

As of right now, Verizon has yet to provide me ANY assistance in this matter.  Nice.

Anyway, I reloaded my OS about 2 months ago, and this is probably something I am not willing to perform again.  The whole process was very time-consuming and cumbersome, and I expect that my phone should work the way it was intended to, without a bunch of extra "homework" on my part.

I am visiting Verizon store today, putting the ball in their court with a list of two choices:  a) replace my BlackBerry with a brand new one, or b) cancel the service.  I have the luxury of being beyond my contract, so that's a good thing.  Not in reaction to this latest problem entirely, but with regard to the complete lack of any concern about my problem. 

I have contacted their "help" desk probably 4-5 times since Friday and am completely disgusted with their lack of even the most basic levels of competence.  Oh, in fairness I did receive ONE follow-up to my initial call...that was the next day from someone to tell me--get this--that they received my call and would have someone call me back.  Nobody did.

So, two takeaways from this:

1)  Verizon "help" desk reps likely get paid on volume of call throughput...whether or not the issue gets resolved (judging on how little time they were willing to spend to even pretend to help me).

2)  If you want a job at a Verizon "help" desk, simply learn how to say these four words:  "Try pulling your battery".

I hope they send me a survey.