You may just have to cancel, and resubscribe if you want VOOM under the lease option. From what others have said, the ability to switch from ownership to lease was removed from their system a few weeks ago -- thus, no CSR can do it, even if they wanted to. It sounds like the CSR may have ok'd the change for you, before realizing that was no longer an option in their system.
We do not know why the decision was made to no longer allow the switch from ownership to lease. All we do know is that this decision was made by "higher ups" at VOOM. It may have been made for a completely justiable reason, such as something to do with accounting, or the terms of their agreement with Sears or Motorola. For example, Sears may be refusing to reimburse VOOM for the STB refund without a cancellation of service. Of course, it could just be to discourage returns.
This is a hassle. I tend to to believe that VOOM would not have made this policy change--given the frustration it will cause for some customers--unless there was a firm financial or contractual reason for doing so. VOOM's executives are not morons; they don't make substantial policy changes on a whim.
As far as cancelling, keep in mind that:
a) When you purchased the box, you were never told you would be able to switch to a lease -- you were only told you could cancel for a refund. In that regard, nothing has changed.
b) No other multichannel provider allows one to purchase a STB, and later change to a lease.
c) Some competing services want their customers commit to a year of programming before they can lease -- VOOM has no such requirement.
d) You have enjoyed months of free programming at VOOM's expense.
