Who I have the same questioned this topic

Just returned from an attempt to upgrade my 73-year-old father's iphone.  His iphone 8 speaker broke and his unit was eligible for upgrade.  I have four phones on my account.  In the past, I would go to the Verizon store, pick what I want, and the technician would do all the data transfer from the old phone to the new.  I did this ONCE via phone and it was a nightmare.

So we get to the store, and 1) they don't carry iphone 8.  Either an SE (which is a 5) or X or above.  My Dad likes the home button, so we decide on an SE.  Now, I'm ready to: Buy a phone, case, and screen protector.... and I'm told I will be given a phone number to call to do the data transfer!!!  "We are touchless now... we can't do the transfers here", our rep. says.

My question is: What DO you do?  The only thing I really came in to the store to get was for a technician to do the data transfer to the new phone because for a regular consumer, it's a frustrating process to do over the phone.

Needless to say -- for less money, we went to a phone-fix place, got a new speaker put in the iphone 8 and are completely done.   That store just lost our business.  COVID "touchless" rules should not equate to "we've eliminated most of the services we used to provide".  Figure it out, folks!