Not exactly the truth. On X-mas Eve, I went to a Sprint store to pick up a Tab 3 on a $5 plan, and they told me that. So I said, "what if I ordered it online and picked it up here in the store?", and they said the same thing.
So, X-mas night, we went online, ordered one and specified the $5 plan, specified that we wanted to pick it up in-store, and the order was allowed on their website. Went to a different store, picked it up, verified with the sales rep that I wanted the $5 plan (which was user-switchable on his screen), and been enjoying ever since. Must be a commission thing... piss poor in my opinion. @Rocket87, can you shed some light on that?
J.