[version_five]

This seems to be the norm among modern tech companies (and maybe others). I think that a good deal of "value" (market cap) has been created over the past 15+ years around preventing customers from getting help, and therefore increasing retention and lowering headcount. There are even large help desk firms that basically specialize in software to prevent people from getting help from a real person. If we took this away and asked companies to actually support their customers, I think we'd quickly see that many businesses would no longer be viable

[andyfleming]

Even if they are viable, it would eat into profit significantly. It's a trade-off between customer happiness and profit. The reality is that even when a large number of customers are occasionally unhappy, they may still not leave the company/product for various reasons. Companies then choose to accept that custom unhappiness since it does not impact their revenue enough practically. Arguably, they have an obligation to make that choice. It's the "best" thing for the company, at least in the shorter term.