2nd Time's the Charm - new Apple Watch Series 3 immediately connected to cellular

[Birdonamission]

I was one of "those" who got up very early on 9/15 to pre-order the new Apple Watch Series 3 and it arrived right on time a week later on 9/22.  But all for naught...like so many others, I could not connect the Watch to Verizon cellular to save my life.

After many hours (that I will never get back) of trouble-shooting with several Verizon people, one of them finally recommended I just go ahead and order a new Watch altogether.  It wasn't a repair nor replacement...it was a totally different order.  I ended up just returning the first Watch at a Verizon store, where they promptly charged me a $35 restocking fee.  To their credit, Verizon gave me a credit in the same amount to offset the fee.

Fast forward to October 17 (over a month after I pre-ordered the first Watch) -- I received the second Watch, and lo and behold, it connected like a charm and has been working beautifully ever since.

It was a bit of an ordeal, but all is good in the universe now.