[chinhodado]

Everything at Google is automated. It's just that to get a response from an actual person when you appeal a decision, you usually need to have a blog post that reaches the front page of HN, and a couple of known friends inside Google. Sometimes even that is not enough.

Google's support has become a meme at this point, on par with Valve's support.

[Cyph0n]

On par with Valve? I would say Google has the worst online support system of any company, by far.

[marssaxman]

Did Google ever actually have human tech support staff? That just doesn't sound like the sort of thing they'd do.

[chrisper]

Yes. The Google Play Store (the part where you can buy phones etc.) has actually good support. I think the only other area they have support is Google AdSense and maybe the paid Google Apps.