All, very sorry for the long post. Feel free to deem this one "too long to bother". (and please, no general "Delta sucks" commentary)

I'm looking for advice to get satisfactory resolution on this. After writing to Delta CEO Richard Anderson, requesting a phone call and acceptable resolution to the issue below. I've gotten an email (they refuse to call for some reason) from someone on his team, but what she offered is not what I would consider "acceptable resolution" and what she DID agree to do has not happened.

Summary:

• One of the options for the 100K threshold for 2009 was Gifting Silver Status to a Friend
• Noting that the same award for the 2010 levels had the fine-print qualifier "If you are gifting Silver Status to a friend that has already achieved Silver, their status will be increased by 1 level to a maximum of Gold Medallion", I spoke to two different PM agents who conferred with each of their supervisors and said "Yes, this will apply for 2009 threshold also"
• I gifted "Silver" status to a friend who took an extra (mileage run) flight to become silver so my gift could make her Gold
• I called after 4 wks (of expected 4-6 wks) to find out what was going on, and another agent spoke to several people over the course of about 30 mins and confirmed "Yes, it took me a while to find the person to confirm, but it is being processed and your friend should receive an email in a couple of days"
• Friend (also elite on United) buys Delta ticket over United ticket based on this assurrance
• Friend calls Delta ~late Feb (4-5 wks after my "confirmation" that it would be complete in next few days) and is told that this was never requested and oh, by the way it's not valid anyway
• I get very annoyed message from friend
• I am out of country at this point so email via delta.com instead of calling
• Response I get is "sorry you got bad info. you can't gift gold. oh, by the way, you also don't get an alternate choice"
• I forwarded this response as well as a couple of other examples of misinformation (i.e. I was told by PM desk in late feb that AS reciprocal upgrades would still be available Mar 1, and I purchased ticket accordingly) to CEO Richard Anderson:
  As a (currently) loyal Diamond Skymiles member, I would appreciate you to ensure that my situation below is resolved reasonably. I request a phone call from someone on your team who can discuss this matter with me.
• Got (email) response from his person (signed Coordinator--Skymiles Program) that said "sorry you got wrong info. I'll make sure you can make a differnent choice for that threshold award. still can't gift Gold. This will be available by March 31. I will follow up with you to make sure this has happened"
• So far, no follow up, no new choice available AND her "resolution" is pretty lame in my opinion.

I was very diligent in validating my choice before I made it. It was logical to me that the info I was getting was correct, given that this was in print for the same award for 2010 from Delta. Delta has not offered:

- any apology or acknowledgement or PHONE CALL as requested (or miles or anything)
- acknowledgement that they changed the 2010 rules retroactively
- executed on the promised follow-up (yet, maybe she still will) or even the inferior resolution they offered
- response to my final email a week ago.

Any suggestions?