I suffer from Early-Adopter syndrome myself. I've overpaid for every Nintendo DS I've ever bought if that gives an idea.
Speaking from experience working at one of these call centers, I've seen cases in which a specific PRL would cause a specific software version on a specific model of phone to do exactly what this here Lumia is reported to be doing. I've also seen cases in which an annoying piece of software would get backed up and re-installed to an Android phone over and over and over and over and over again, causing issues to return no matter how many times the person wiped or had their phone replaced. Situations like these have led people to (understandably) believe that warranty and/or refurbished phones are generally beat-up bricks that have been run through a food processor, which they are definitely not. (Can't say I've never heard rumors of tampered packages in the mail though....)
Granted, part of the problem is some reps' overwillingness to try and fix an issue by being generous about replacements. They want to make the customer happy. They truly believe replacing the phone will make the customer happy, because in that rep's mind, it makes it look like we're going above and beyond for the customer. But when the issue returns, the customer gets angrier, calls in, getting yet another rep that thinks they'll make the customer happier by replacing (to make us look generous) rather than rooting out the real problem. It's an endless cycle that only increases the frustration, and sometimes it's hard to work that mentality out of a person.
The reps who typically have the happiest customers are the ones who are *least* generous with replacements, and do everything they can to weed out the real issue or find a real answer. I understand it's frustrating, but generally the reps who are more adamant about troubleshooting for themselves are the ones who most often get things *fixed*.
I've learned to expect the impossible on a daily basis with technology, and especially with software. You can have two of the exact same hardware, and get two entirely different results if even the slightest of conditions are different. As much as people grumble about "paying to beta", this is how the worst of the bugs are found and worked out: The developers are simply unable to find them just by poking around, because they cannot predict what every last person will do to their code. They need the unpredictable to happen in order to solve it. I thank you for taking part in this process. I apologize for the frustration, but please try to be gentle with the reps. They are the ones who know the devices and the network.
For what it's worth, my old Trophy hated the Sync system in my husband's car. (Ironic, right?) The Lumia loves it with hugs and kisses. Difference? I imagine it's the audio-enhancing software you find in HTCs. Either way, it caused my old Trophy to crash when I played music in the car. I knew what caused it, I could live with it. Tech is weird and the easiest way to be "good" at it is to learn to take it in stride. Learn to understand when nobody did anything wrong. Learn to enjoy poking around it. (You're not gonna break it! Well, unless you toss it off a building maybe...) Worried about losing something? Back it up and play some more.
For some of us who have been playing with PDAs since the Palm days (and I swear I've recognized a few names on a few forums from Brighthand), we know how far we can push these devices. Windows Phone 8, even with the bugs, is cake compared to Windows Mobile 6.5 or Android.
Take all this for what you will.