Oh..
If they're 4800BPS
And your code is 2400BPS
You're going to have problems. I don't believe they're changeable ( well, I know mine are NOT for sure.)
Try change the the rfSerial and serial speeds to 4800.
Already did that forever ago - same results. But, again, after rummaging around the internet I read somewhere that said you gain more stability at a lower baud. Apparently the pair is rated UP to 4800?
Well, you've got me on this one! Well I've read that there are some pair that will do multiple speeds.. but I think that's more so Transceivers and such, but I could be wrong. I did read that as well, I believe it's actually at the bottom of the VirtualWire document.
So, you've tried other libraries and such.. do you get the same results?
Can you get any results with any of the libraries so far? If nothing else, the Sparkfun tutorial SHOULD work...
It also shows that the receiver has BOTH of it's Positive and Grounds connected in their tutorial, my receiver has only 1.
Could give that a shot, I'm really not sure!
But do keep in mind, Sparkfun has AWESOME customer service, they'll be more than happy to fix something if there's a problem. But you gotta keep in mind, alot of the e-mails they receive about this kind of stuff is probably 75% User Error. So it may take some convincing 
Best of luck, please do keep us updated! I'm trying out the old SoftWareSerial library to send some information to an LCD. Hopefully my newb-ness doesn't hold me back too far.
Yeah, I'm going to contact them again, and maybe we can work out a deal. It sounds like I should buy a second set anyway.
You would think this would be an absurdly easy task. I guess not.
Ok, It's midnight here in Michigan and I'm off to bed. Thanks a ton for working on this with me! I have NO ONE around me to talk to about this kind of stuff, so it was nice to vent!
Eric
Well, haha it generally is an easy task, if everythings working right!
I had some connection issues for a while, but turns out I was connecting the two backwards.. Transmitter to the receiver pin, and vice versa.
I know the feeling! When I even point out some of the stuff I've done, my family is like.. you paid $40 so you can make a light glow? Haha, gotta love the supporting family
Best of luck, disconnect everything, and try again tomorrow! (that's what got my pair working, some sleep!)
If you don't get it working, report back with everything else you've tried, and then you can point SparkFun customer service to this Post if it doesn't work out for you..
Good luck, and I'll post the code after I get my LCD receiving!
i know i'm only an Amateur Extra, but... shouldn't you consider putting something on the ANT connections on the receiver and transmitter?
Well, I was able to get about 9 feet (3 meters) without using an antenna. And for my second attempt, about 30 feet, through a couple walls, with only a Jumper cable hooked up to the antenna of the Receiver, into the breadboards ground(wasn't being used, just longer than the 5pin rows).
Also, I used my Electronics Learning Board (Radioshack 28-280) just for a base, hooked up the transmitter to the Transformer on board, just for the wired coils, and I was able to go anywhere throughout the house, and a few meters outside, didn't try much further.
But, you could also just connect a wire from Each antenna (haha, no longer wireless) just to see if you get the results you're trying for.. if that's the case then you know it's antenna issue.