Hey gang, it's been a couple of weeks but work got crazy. Thank you so much for the suggestions and replies; going to go over them eagerly!

I did send Trek a letter regarding the whole issue. Heard nothing back. Called them this week, talked to the manager. He did give me some crap about it taking me two years to figure this out, and then offered $200 off a new FX 7.5. I basically told him that I really didn't feel that $200 was enough to counter a $1000+ mistake, when I didn't actually MAKE that mistake. He said he'd go talk to some high-up mucky-mucks. ....and then came back with $300 off.

I very politely told him to forget it, and that I would not be patronizing their brand in future.

So, now I'm not sure WHAT to do. Get a new bike? Just a frame? Try to get this one to work? Like I said, I'll go over the posts and gather all the nuggets of wisdom. Feeling pretty discouraged about the whole thing, not to mention extremely apprehensive about buying ANYTHING after this experience.