I couldn't beleive it either.
The phone was in pristine condition - it was my wife's and she's a bit of a neat freak. Not a scratch, no sticky spills. The testers said there were no error codes, which doesn't surprise me as the phone would power down completely in an instant.

There was only one store nearby, which was a bit of a drive. As I told the phone rep's - it was too far for me to keep driving there everytime the phone died. Both the store and the phone rep's were quick to grant me a $50 credit towards a new phone - but I didn;t think I should shell out any money for a phone under warranty.

I finally called Sprint and paid my cancelation fee today. This is not worth ruining my credit over. After the customary wait - I actually spoke with a cherrful lady who couldn't beleive my story. She apologized and stated that if she had taken my original call she would have reversed the fee - but since some whacko supervisor signed off on the fee, she said she coudln't.