I'm sorry to hear of your bad experience.
For what it's worth, mine's on my camera all the time, except if I want to go wide or tele. I've put no doubt 50,000+ shots through it on 4 different bodies and today it's as solid as it was in 2000 when I got it.
The images may not be *quite* as crisp and clean as with a prime, but they are very processable, as you no doubt already know, Ron.
-Noel