every retail store i know of that sells verizon, gives you a two week grace period as to whether or not you like the phone. you'll more than likely know within a few days but anything within the 14 days, you can bring the phone in and exchange it for a better one and pay the difference. don't sit on it for a year + and expect to be able to upgrade. every service does that. if you didn't like the phone from the beginning, you should've done something about it in the beginning. (just realized i sounded a bit dickish there. didn't mean to)

you can also try to call up verizon customer care and complain directly to them or a supervisor. tell them that your phone is broken and not receiving calls (or some BS story). sometimes what they'll do is either qualify you for an early upgrade (depending on how long you've had the phone and how often you make your payments on time etc) or apply some kind of credit on your account so you can buy a phone at full price. hope that helps out.