US iPhone, upgraded in Europe, now a brick?  Warning to others!

I'm in Switzerland for the summer, foolishly upgraded my iPhone via iTunes and now have a dead phone.
It started to throw an error message about not supporting the accessory I had plugged in (even though nothing was plugged in), then it wouldn't charge no matter the method (wall, car, laptop), and before I could back up and downgrade the software, the battery was dead and now I can't charge, sync or downgrade.
Went to the biggest Apple supplier in Zurich, didn't get far because it was a US phone ("nothing we can do...") but after calling the local Apple number I was told that I was basically SOL until I head back home.
Reason? If you up innocently upgrade while in Europe, iTunes sees you as being here, directs you to an European version, no warning, you upgrade - and the Euro upgrade isn't compatible with the US phone.
End result - dead phone, no options. The guy said they are getting a lot of calls about this, and he knew what happened as soon as I mentioned I upgrade here.
So for those in Europe, don't be as naive as me and upgrade - there will be no warning, you are guaranteed to end up with a dead phone and there's no one to help.
Finally, it will be quite some time before I do head back to the US so I'm in a jam.
Anyone know something they don't about fixing this here before I head home?

I saw your discussion, and well, I did this very thing, except I brought my US iPhone to France. Upgraded, etc. It works extremely well, fingers crossed. It sounds to me like you're not "bricked" but that you have a hardware problem. If you can't plug it into the wall and charge it, well, there is something really wrong there. I don't think bricked phones do that, do they?
Let me repeat: the only hardware difference between phones of different countries would be GSM vs the US non-GSM. And the iPhone can work on lots of networks, including GSM. Why would Apple build 50 different iPhones for 50 different countries? Why can my US SIM card and my French SIM card work in the same phone, with equal results? I even have a FRENCH iTunes account, that I USED in the US to back, restore, activate, upgrade.
By the way I think it's false to claim that unlocking and unjailing or whatever, and all that, necessarily bricks your iPhone. Especially if you claim it happened by simply changing countries! So if you're desperate, well, ... I would.
Good luck. R
PS, I heard that during any upgrading or restoring you do, AIRPLANE mode should be turned OFF! It can cause bricking, I read it on the web, so it COULD be true
Message was edited by: rvdparis

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