That's the un-charitable interpretation. When dealing with complex problems with no clear cut analytical solution putting a real human in the loop who can make a judgement call instead of playing back a prewritten script is often the optimal solution.
Traditionally there's been 2 customer service lines: regular and VIP.
Now there's 3: regular, VIP, and social media apology tour. And it'd sure be nice if these companies had decent policies to begin with... But that's the problem, isn't it?
I do get that. But many of these stories we hear have to do with consistent customers with a stable payment history and a good relationship. Something goes terribly wrong, helpdesk bombs it, and then what? Well, twitter, HN, reddit.
All I know is the current situation, well, stinks.
