Aarti,
Having worked in the cell phone industry for many years now, I honestly do not believe your experience is any different than that of most people who have to send their phone back to the manufacturer, regardless of the brand. It does usually take at least 3 weeks even for a simple phone, and longer for PDAs/smartphones.
I think what has made your case more frustrating is that rather than patiently waiting for your phone to return, you called Motorola repeatedly and expected them to know the status of your phone each time. The service centers used by Motorola are not owned by Motorola, and furthermore they are not run like shipping companies where they can track a particular item every step of the way. When you spoke to Kevin and he told you the best he could do is contact the repair facility on your behalf, he was being honest.
So while I can empathize with your frustration of having purchased a brand new phone, having to have it repaired and being without it for over month, I do not believe that this was an outstanding case of bad customer service. I believe your expectations of how a cell phone repair should go exceeded reality. Every phone I have sent off for service, regardless of brand (Sony, Sanyo, LG, you name it) has always taken at least 3 weeks, and they always go to a third-party contracted service center, not the manufacturer.
Insurance may or may not have helped in this instance. Sprint's Extended Protection Plan is a combination of both insurance (for when the phone is a total loss) and extended warranty coverage (for when the phone can be repaired). The insurance part is provided by yet another third-party contractor (Insurion or lock/line), and unless the phone is lost or stolen, you must ship your phone to that contractor before it can be replaced, and that is only if the phone is damaged beyond repair. If the phone is repairable, the warranty part kicks in and you would have still had to ship it off to be repaired.
mtg's experience of having Sprint replace the phone on the spot is not typical and should not be expected unless you have had the phone for less than 30 days.
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