It seems I was right. Until you are "in the system" (i.e they have your money) they cannot do a thing for you. Keep checking with your bank to see when they finally take the money out (via your debit card). When the bank has a record of the withdrawal, then call the 877 number back and tell them you want to add expedited service and do not take no for an answer.
The cust service reps are so swamped that they are desperatly trying to "blow off" any callers they can just to alleviate the flood of calls. If they think they can dissuade you from doing something, they will do it.
Good luck. Remember, it took about one month for me to get "in the system".