Oh you're pretty lucky, then! I went into a reseller a few weeks ago, was about to buy the 650 until they refused to waive the $25 fee. Left empty-handed, but later found a 640 at Best Buy for $111 less than I'd of spent at Cricket for the 650.
I understand they need to make money, but 'activating' a phone when you're already a customer (like you described) doesn't warrant $25 worth of effort on their part. Even with a Cricket branded phone, you just slip your SIM into it and it works (unless you have to swap nanoSIM for a microSIM or vice-versa) - even still, you phone in & they can swap them over the phone... still not warranting of that fee.
Their retail phones are already more costly than what the Cricket wireless sells them for.
You are also lucky for getting one shipped from Best Buy! If I had made Best Buy my original stop, I wouldn't have been without a phone for 2 days.. I originally checked the site and they didn't have the 640, cheapest model was a 435 or something for $50+
Took a chance one afternoon I was nearby and they had one lonely $28 640 sitting on the rack. No mention of it available online/offline, whatsoever.