Coverage wise, Verizon Wireless is solid and that is who I use not only because it gets me great service where I live but also everywhere I travel across the country. I wouldn't just leave them because of this but hopefully they fix the issue and discount at least 1 month of cellular charges at least.....highly doubt they would give you any 'free' hardware to be honest without extending or modifying your contract.
I would have stayed away from involving a local store IMO just because they are more retail driven and often limited to what they can do with accounts. Instead I would have went up the chain over the phone with dealing with Verizon Customer Service, tracking each call by a case # or reference # of some sort along with any names/contact info of everyone dealt with.