[thayne]

I think a big part of the problem is consolidation and lack of competition. In an ideal market, if you had a bad experience like these you would stop using that company, and tell your friends to as well. But, in many industries there are at most a handful of companies to choose from, and as long as none of the other big companies have good customer support, they don't have any incentive to have good customer support. And a newcomer doesn't have much chance of competing unless it is extremely well funded, or is more niche.