I just had a call with someone over at HTC that actually seemed to care. Whether anything gets done, I don't know. But Gina - a person I spoke with last about my case, was seemingly very helpful and emphatic. She at least took the time to verify whether anything else could be done, and mentioned that she took my feedback regarding "Chris Otter" in order to "escalate" the case.
First of all - this "Chris Otter" - don't know if the same 'Chris' that System6 above had issues with - when he put me on hold, it took all but 5 secs for him to get back to me saying "yup, nothing my supervisor can do either"... He then had the NERVE to say "well sir, this phone is *Google's* phone, it's not HTC's phone, we are just tech support. But it is Google's phone" is a quite derogatory tone. He then proceeds to say "sorry sir, I apologize, but... you know... low man on the totem pole... you know...". Very much the snide, smug attitude that System 6 above talks about. So again, dunno if the same Chris, but sounds like it might be.
All this because of the initial tech agent's (Tony or Anthony Templeton) utter failure in giving me the correct, quickest, most inconvenience-less option of getting a replacement. He stated, "this is the quickest way for us to get you a replacement phone" - ie. me sending my unit back, before they send me a replacement. Why I believed him, I still don't know. All I want is a Nexus One that will work properly. So now I'm stuck without a Nexus for a whole week, as they will only be receiving my defective Nexus on Tuesday 1/26. So likely, they'll only ship out on Wednesday 1/27 and IF it's overnight, will get back on Thursday 1/28. But that's only if all goes smoothly. I expect Friday, or who knows, maybe even later the way things are going with HTC. I'm gone on a trip starting Feb 1st (Mon), so at this point, I don't even know if I'll get it back before then.
For all we know, their names are just aliases... So not only did I log my complaints with Gina (who again, was super nice, and took time to investigate other options, and here my complaints about how the previous tech agents handled my ticket), but I also called HTC back at their main hotline number. I logged a formal complaint against both Chris Otter (for his extreme lack of courtesy and professionalism) but also against Tony/Anthony Templeton for this complete incompetence in giving me - the customer - the best and quickest means of getting a replacement device. Who the hell knows if that will go anywhere. But at least I feel better for at least having tried to make it known to HTC the issues that some of their tech agents are causing, and all the while, I've kept my cool, never "lost" it, never even raised my voice or used profanity against any of the agents. I sincerely hope they do record phone calls, because they (whoever they are) at HTC will realise how POOR "most" (not all) of their Nexus One tech support agents are at handling these initial issues with the early adopters.
Note, I'm not angered about the device itself, or outraged about it having issues. I accept the risks of being an early adopter of a new device. But my beef is with the tech support and how my particular case was handled. And it sounds like many people, just from the threads in this very message board - which is but a small % of the Nexus One community, I'm not alone in my disappointment in HTC's tech support.
I even commented to Gina that if I was asked "if I'd buy another HTC product in the future", my response would be "most likely not".