Just spoke with a very helpful young lady at 1(800)HPINVENT. She said that HP is still in the process of establishing return policies for the old 17BII+'s without L() and G(). She suggested that I call back in about a month to ensure that my replacement will be the updated ROM. She also asked where I purchased my calculator for internal purposes, but that even without a receipt there should be no problem since the calculator has not even be out for a year.
Give HP credit for addressing this problem!
Now if they'd only release the 19BII+ ...