[001sky]

CS is expensive and the margins on micro-transactions is small.

Think about the order of magnitude:

(1) An average 2.5% transaction fee on a $100 dollar e-bay transaction is US$2.50 in revenue.

(2) The cost of sending someone a "paper bill" in the mail (fully amortized) is approximately US$2.00, or 80% of the revenue from a $100 sale.

(3) at $8.50/hour, a minimum wage worker would expend >80% of revenue by spending 15 minutes to help you.

(4) A "quick fix" with a paper-trail (2+3 above)quickly turns the transaction negative ($2+2=$4>$2.50) at the margin.

(5) Since every fix is an instant loss, profit maximization implies "fix minimization"--at least as one component of strategy.

(Disclaimer: This is all made up math.)

[tehwebguy]

I assumed your parent was talking about customer service from a vendor perspective, which makes more sense. At a certain volume threshold ($5k / mo? $10k? I forget) the customer service experience absolutely improves, but not enough.