Ichat hates me?

[eustaciavye77]

Recently I got a new laptop and with it, I upgraded to Leopard. Since I got it, I've had a strange issue with ichat. Sometimes, when I add someone to my buddy list, it will add them for a moment (I will see their user name come onto my list and then after a few seconds, they disappear.) This seems to happen whether they are online or offline when i try to add them. Messaging them after the user name has disappeared off my list sometimes works, sometimes doesn't. Eventually at a random time, the username appears on my list and is there permanently.

Wtf? anyone have a clue? Barring clue necessary to fix this, anyone wanna recommend a client i can download that won't make me cry?

EDIT: I downloaded adium. it works great. Still getting the hang of some of the features.