Lumia 800 Cannot Download a single App from Market...

Question

Hello,
I've just bought a Lumia 800 on July 20, 2012 from a retailer in the Philippines and am using it in the same.
I downloaded Zune for Windows 7 on my dual boot mac. I downloaded all updates till Zune said there was no more available on the Windows 7 partition. It succesfully installed. I am up to date according to the latest firmware as noted on Nokia firmware and MS OS as of today.
I have not been able to download a single app since I got the phone. I use the marketplace app on the phone and have also tried "pushing" the app from the marketplace on Firefox/Chrome on my Mac and PC.
The phone goes to marketplace downloads, says "Pending" starts to says "Downloading 0%" till it says "Tap here" then I have to retry download. Been trying this all night, and have been reseting the phone by holding the button below the volume control till the phone says "Goodbye" then I boot it up and the same still happens.
I've also tried a hard reset, formatting to factory settings. That did not let me download a single app either. Since I needed the phone, I restored my data. I have been using a wifi connection with broadband at home. I can surf IE on the phone, check mail, but the marketplace has always been off for the few days I've owned the darn thing. I can open the marketplace app, I can see apps, I can browse them, and I can click install, reinstall (for some reason Windows Live thinks its already installed).  
Am I missing something? I tried cancelling all other downloads except Whatsapp and still no dice. I've cancelled all downloads, restarted and tried again and to this day, I have an app phone that can't get apps from it's own marketplace.
I tried setting my windows live ID to jive with my region and language, all the same, US or Philippine english, nothing.
I've tried writing emails to Nokia Philippines support and after typing all this they just told me to 1. open marketplace app, 2. Click Download (Arrgghhhh talk about canned STUPID RESPONSES, the guy obviously did not read my email that I did the same.)
Please help me. 

Answer 1

Hi kosh, Yes I have done a hard reset even at the risk of losing all my contacts. I've also tried creating a new live ID to sign in after the hard reset was made. Sadly such did not work so I eventually just restored my contacts. I find it disappointing that groups does not sync so if ever I do need to change live IDs I'll have to remake all the groups again. Such is the loss of a loyal Nokia customer who has to pay for Symbian going and ms entering. I find it odd that I would even have to create a new live account as the one already designated as the primary account attached to the phone was created upon first boot of the phone. But I guess there's no loss trying one more time since accounts are free. I'll have to do it some other time as I am currently mobile and had to leave the phone cause the total lack of apps has rendered it insufficient for my needs. I will update the forum once Nokia and/or Microsoft contacts me. Really hoping they just replace the darn thing since I bought the phone open line out of carrier making this feel more of a waste, and I wouldn't want a phone like this sent for repair this fresh or given a refurb.