Well folks, my replacement USB cradle just arrived and there are
still problems.

The good news is that the cradle does succeed in charging
the Blackberry device.

However....

The moment I move the switch to USB, the computer senses
the connection and comes up with an ERROR that reads: Windows
could not recognize this USB device.

Meanwhile, if I bypass the cradle and hook my Blackberry directly
to my computer's USB port, the computer instantly recognizes the
connection and all is well.

This immediately tells me that the cradle is still a problem.

It also tells me that I'm probably going to ship this whole thing
back for a refund.