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When I've worked in big companies, it was hard enough to get working contact information and then convince them to fix bugs in a reasonable time frame for real issues that were important.

In the couple of times I've tried to that accross companies, it's even worse, unless the other company is very accomidating, my company has a direct relationship, and either my company is a major customer or a major expense and the fix will save them a lot of money (and me a lot of headache). If we don't have a direct relationship, it takes months to get in touch with the right person, and then quarters to get a fix into their release schedule, so if I have a fix that works for me and my customers, I'll still put a little effort into reaching out to get it fixed properly, but then I'll just do what works.