Differentiate Using Customer Service

I'm in a carpool and today the conversation was on BAD customer service.  With advances in technology, the four of us agreed that customer service has suffered.  I explained how I spent about three hours trying to download a test bank because companies don't send you hard copies anymore.  Everything is on-line.  But the challenge is figuring out how to make it work.  After three hours and one more hour with the College technical person (who downloads documents all of the time), we called the technical support person.  Do you think we could get to a live person? We were routed in various directions with no luck in getting a person or answer to our question. 

They also instruct you to send in your question via email.  But they want to prompt you to different links and it is hard to even know which link to select.  Last summer, I had similar issues with electronic course materials and the textbook representative immediately connected me to a real person who was a technical expert.  He spent three hours figuring out the program and said to me, "This is not even easy for me and this is my expertise!"

Another colleague chimed in that she was ordering a ticket using Travelocity.  When she hit a key requesting to speak to an agent, the recording informed her that it would cost her $25 to speak to a live person! 

If companies want to differentiate themselves, move away from technology and offer personal service from live persons.  If it makes a difference for customers, it should make a difference for businesses--profit and not-for-profit.