UTStarComm locked DOWN my phone!!

[drukqs]

So here's the whole story. I get a new HTC Touch, I'm all excited, first thing I do is start tethering (after the appropriate registry changes) Then my friend who bought a Touch right after me says "hay guy upgrade to 6.1." He sends me a leaked rom, I install, it's perfect for the longest time.

Then about three weeks ago after a week-long vacation (phone is off the whole time) I go to power the thing on. It won't turn on. I yank the battery, jam it back in, phone turns on. Great. I listen to a bunch of voicemail, return some calls, and I'm done. So I go to lock the screen, and it won't lock with the power button on top. I have to let it sit inactive to get the screen to lock. Okay, but then I can't UNlock it. I reflash to the latest official rom from HTC's site, doesn't help.

So I call HTC support, they say call this number, UT Star Comm (formerly ut star comm I don't remember what they are now) has me send the phone to them, postage unpaid, my own packaging, and a slip of paper describing my phone's problems (How fly-by-night can you get?) They say to expect a repaired phone in two weeks. Sure enough I get the same phone back, REPAIRED (not RMA'ed) all is well. I pop my Seidio battery and battery cover back on, return like 15 calls and voicemails. I notice that they've reflashed my phone... Again.

I ignore this, restore my contacts and messages with PIMbackup from my microSD and I use the phone for 2-3 days. Tonight I go to redo my registry hacks for tethering, and for some strange reason, it says "access denied." I fire up the same program on my laptop, again, "access denied" as soon as I try to change a key.

I figure, okay, I'll reflash back to the ROM my friend sent me. Nope. I plug my phone into my computer, get the reflash going, I watch active sync and as soon as I press next or continue or whatever, the connection drops. And I see 3-4 multicolored fat lines on my phone's display. I pop the battery out, jam it back in and I'm back to my locked down operating system. At least it's not bricked I guess. I've repeated this process three times, each time, same result. As soon as the reflash starts, ActiveSync drops my phone. The "connected" icon still shows on my phones taskbar.

What can I do? I'm calling these bastards first thing Monday to complain. This is outrageous.