A text message can only show so much. My Offers from your My Verizon account will show all the details. When you get any plan the rest of the customer base doesn't have normal access to, those plans are discounted to the point where they are often cheaper than what the full cost would be with employee discounts.

No carrier is going to give away brand new phones to replace one that's several generations old. Batteries degrade over time, that's a fact. If you want a phone with a new battery, you upgrade like everyone else.

Nothing Verizon does is any different than what everyone else is doing in the industry. All switching carriers does is introduce the same systems with a different logo.