Hi Troy,
The short answer is, NO, no one from Apple is listening to this thread. This is a forum for users to share experiences and not a bug reporting or complaint line. As you can tell from all the prior entries on the Thunderbolt display, the device has not lived up to expectations.
Several people have reported some success with use of outboard-powered USB hubs. Here one plugs a POWERED USB hub into the Thunderbolt display and then plugs the USB devices into that hub. This clearly works for some types of problems, although others (such as failure to recognize the connected devices) continue to occur sporadically. I have done this for both my Thunderbolt displays and the difficulty with USB devices has become somewhat less of a problem.
Thunderbolt displays also have been reported to fail to connect ethernet plugged into the display to the MacBook Pro or Air. This is the case for both my displays: no matter what I do, they do not conduct ethernet. I have tried new cables, various cabling sequences, etc. all to no avail. Some people have reported getting new controller boards installed at the Apple store with improved performance. I have given up entirely on ethernet through the display and now plug in an ethernet cable directly to the MacBook Pro whenever I need a really fast connection.
You will likely not find Apple Inc. to be helpful on this -- they have not been so for others, at least according to published reports. Apple has not recalled the T-bolt displays or indicated that the company is aware of any problems with them. A good relationship with the local Apple store managers may be useful. There are reports of swapping out controller boards repeatedly until one is found that works well. This type of support is exceptional and your account suggests that the local store is not.
If you connect/disconnect your base computer quite often you may wish to try the powered hub approach. I have used several different powered hubs successfully. You may wish to invest in one capable of 2 ampere output -- many are limited to 500 mA which is not enough to charge an iPhone or iPad and power connections to other devices at the same time. I have my powered hubs Velcro (r) mounted on the back of the Thunderbolt display with the cables wire-wrapped and the power supply paralleled with the T-bolt power cable.
You may also, of course, simply connect the output of your powered USB hub directly to the MBP or MAir, bypassing the Tbolt display entirely. This routes all the USB through a single connection to the MBP or MAir. thus allowing you to have your USB devices in a more or less static arrangement. This is also a good test of the functioning of the MBP or MAir and the USB devices -- if this non-Tbolt-routed USB configuration does not work, the problem lies in your MBP or MAir, not the display!
Like many other Apple products, first-generation Thunderbolt displays are more likely to be flaky than later models, even though the specifications remain the same. You may find that a Tbolt display purchased a year from now works flawlessly even though it is, to all outward appearances, the same as the one you own today that does not.
My Tbolt displays both provide a very nice visual display that is the primary reason I bought them. At the time I did, they were the ONLY Thunderbolt compatible displays available. Thunderbolt peripherals are gradually appearing now and these may make the display even more attractive as a base station for use with a MBP or MAir but I would certainly not purchase such devices early in the product cycle. That is for pioneers. Pioneers can be identified by the arrows sticking out of their slumped over bodies.
BTW, regarding your statement about business losses, the Apple warranty and user agreements strictly limit the company's liability for your use of their equipment and software. This is also the case for all major commercial computer and software manufacturers. There are simply no guarantees that anything you buy will work as you thought it would. If a device or app meets the published specification -- and for connections to other devices this means meeting the standards specified for the connection alone -- it is unlikely that you will be able to demand any remedy. Your access to legal action is determined by the consumer laws of the jurisdiction in which you purchased the device. Every now and then someone will propose a class action suit against Apple for a supposed fault in a particular device model. Cursory exploration of this option should lead you to conclude that it is not an attractive path to choose.
Also BTW, I don't think Steve Jobs' management of the retail support chain was all that different from what is happening now. Moreover, although clearly damning by faint praise, I have not found any other big manufacturer to provide better support than Apple. Many are much worse.
Thus endeth the reading for this day.
