
There is a disclaimer at the bottom. Don't yell at me if you aren't successful
So, like many of you, GDR2 broke text messaging on my Verizon 8X. It's unbelievably frustrating, and I went through about 4 or 5 phones trying to avoid the patch but having it install on accident, as well as having other problems with the phones and trying to get a working phone. After five times I told the rep (in a store) that I'd been through five phones, and I asked him if there was any way to get a replacement phone or something within a reasonable price difference and he said he wasn't sure but initially recommended I talk to Tier 2 tech support.
He asked what kind of phone I was interested in, and I pointed out the Lumia 928 which has (atm) a $50 price difference between it and the 8X. I mentioned I'd be willing to pay the $50 difference, but he said the tech support couldn't charge me, so he'd see if it was possible to order me a Lumia 928 instead of my 8X. Ten minutes later (and a tense moment in which a manager who denied that to me my first replaced phone asking him a question in front of the computer screen) I was good to go! I now have a Lumia 928 en route, and at no charge
You may have similar luck doing the same thing! I definitely went into a store, I don't know how likely this would be over the phone. And if you complain enough and point out that it was GDR2/Verizon's own patch that caused the problem, you may get lucky. Note: HAVE EVIDENCE. If you don't, they'll at best force you to waste time doing a factory reset (which won't rollback GDR2 so it obviously won't work), or at worst take your phone so their "engineers" can reproduce the problem. I've had instances where I just did a factory reset then they sent me a new one, and then once they wouldn't give me a replacement unless I let them reproduce it. So today I went in with it broken and about 15 screenshots. Have your ammo ready!
Disclaimer! YMMV: I do not profess to this working every time. I had an extremely helpful and understandable employee helping me out, and I think if I'd gotten the manager it might have at least been harder. But if you complain enough you might get lucky! Good luck! Also, the color defaults to black, so if you want white (which I don't know if it's possible) you might want to mention that. I'm personally happy with black, and I can't wait for my own Lumia