[Bahamut]

After interviewing enough, my conclusion has been to not get so enamored with a particular company. It is just like falling in love with a particular university, or a particular person on first sight - irrational, and usually ends up with dashed hopes & missed opportunities from being too single-minded (and even lower pay).

I have had this experience with big and small companies - one big company gave the silent treatment during salary negotiations. Some smaller companies have lost track of the process at various stages. My approach now is to just mentally tally the companies I am interviewing with and if one falls on the wayside, I keep it in mind as negative signal for any future interaction with anyone with an association with the company - the strength of the signal depends on the size of the company (the larger, the smaller weight) and the nature of the problem.