Thanks to those working on this.
I have received a PM from HardBeatZ and am receiving help with this issue.
I have seen posts re: returning phones. While this may be a puzzler and a frustration it certainly in no way approaches the level of considering returning the Pixi!
I'll post how this turns out.
thanks again.
Arrrgh! Verizon doesn't get it!
So we get a voice message today from Verizon: "Our engineers did not find any issue with the text messages... ...show that you are able to send and receive text messages. If you are still having any issues we need example numbers of who you are having the the issue with."
Hmm. Not sure how they decided that!
Anyway, I just got off the phone with tech support again. Received apology for ticket being closed without resolution and have a new ticket cooking.
If you are one of those having even occasional SMS problems, and you are a Verizon customer, PLEASE call Verizon to report. I was told this is a "new" problem they had not heard before.