Just got my ERIS today and was having serious misgivings because of the amount of time I spent at the store just to get service started and still walked out with their profuse apologies that my contacts would not transfer from my Dare. Went home, found the document detailing how to create the CSV file etc. Only to find that the blasted thing still wouldn't sync from gmail.
I wound up deleting all the data/clearing cache from all the google apps, (did NOT do a factory reset!) power-cycled, reentered my gmail login and viola! My contacts transferred! Whew!
I think I am going to love this phone once I get the hang of it - this is my first smartphone, finally gave up dual devices(separate phone/PDA) - but you'd still think they would make something so basic as transferring contacts a little easier.
At any rate, if this diatribe saves any one from the 5 hours of frustration I just dealt with, my troubles will have been worth it. 
