I bought my S3 from a mall kiosk authorized Verizon dealer. I thought at the time it was a Verizon Corporate outlet because of the huge Verizon sign and the fact that they didn't carry anything that wasn't Verizon.I've bought Sprint phones from authorized dealers and have taken them to Sprint corp for repair or replacement no questions asked. Are you saying you can't do that with Verizon?
I had problems with it and took it to a Verizon store and was told that they couldn't help me or exchange the phone, that I would have to take it back to where I bought it from.
Unfortunately I was out of town at the time and had to wait until I returned home. Once I was home (and still in the 14 day return period) I was able to return the phone.
I'll never deal with an "Authorized Verizon Store" again.