As the title says it looks as if it was ripped out and part of the film under the battery was ripped out with it. Pretty lame on Verizon's part if you ask me.
That's really weird. I would call Verizon and tell them just in case you have to ever return it, they don't blame you for it and call it physical damage.
There is aTHIRD situation....
1) pulling the tab off
2) Phone arriving without a tab)
3).... mine at first appeared to be one that shipped withOUT a tab. BUT on closer inspection I saw that the handset had been carelessly assembled with the part of the tab on the left (that you are supposed to pull)... going UNDERNEATH the left-hand part of the inner case, making it look at a quick glance, like it had shipped without a tab, and also making it impossible to get the tab out to use! (unless you disassembled the phone's case, which I was definitely unwilling to do)
I put a piece of tape on the battery from the underneath side to make my own pull tab.... a pull tab that is attached to the battery itself instead of lying under the battery like the original. This is of course, also a 'fix' for those who DID pull off their tab!
So you folks that think your phone came without the tab, go look at it closer... you may find it is there, but inaccessible due to the phone being assembled carelessly.
Hope this helps .....