thank you. i have managed to get the phone activated by creating a ticket as everyone suggested, and thank you @irev210 for the info. I agree, it doesn't make any sense that they would want to delete the numbers.
They initially tell you the ticket takes 7 -10 days to resolve, which seems like an unreasonable length of time for something so simple, but what really bothered me is that no one at sprint would tell me a) why it takes that long, and why the number wouldn't be there int he first place. i'm glad to have gotten something of an answer here, and i appreciate that this forum exists for that reason.
Overall, i just wish there was a way to speak directly with higher level agents instead of having to deal with their prewritten scripts and have them doubting the information you are giving them. i must have been asked 7 times if it was a Sprint phone.
As far as the corporate store, they told my wife that the phone was stolen, probably without even running the number because it still had someone's username in the "about phone" dialog. I mean REALLY Sprint? i understand they are salesmen above all else, but even the manager tried to convince her it was stolen. It's scenarios like this that give sprint a bad rep. when it comes to customer service, and overall i just wish it were different, and understand how less knowledgeable people would be extremely dissatisfied with their experience at sprint.