I recently took a trip to the Apple Store in Manhatten Beach today. ( April 8th )

I was surprised how fast my experience was.

To start off I had a mint palm centro that I had traded with someone for their horribly scratched 16GB iphone 3G with 2.2.
I later find out that the loud speaker was blown. I thought I was jipped but I checked the warranty status of the iphone and saw that It still had coverage until July 2010. I decided to make an appointment with a Genius at Apple. I had forgotten to restore the iphone because I had jailbroken it a few days prior. (they never found out). They check the water sensor and see It was not water damaged at all. Within 10 minutes of the appointment the Genius tells me he will replace the iphone. I thought I would get a refurbished replacement but I instead got a brand new in box white 3G. I had installed sbsettings to hide cydia and other non apple store apps before I got to the apple store that day. It was a pretty interesting experience for me.
Unfortunately the new iphone has 2.2.1 installed with 2.30.03 and I have T-Mobile so no software unlock for me. I still have yet to get a Sim Adapter and actually use the iphone.

same happend to me i had a 3g that was stuck on recovery it was a hardware problem as i allways got error 9. anyways 10 min at th e apple store got a refurbished one but looks brand new. and i guess i was lucky fw 2.2 on it.