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>> and think the fundamental problems are going to just disappear.

Au contraire. If you implement things poorly enough then all those people on the phone asking for tech support really do just go away. They learn to solve their own problems. Make your problem-solving/help-line interface sufficiently horrible that it develops a reputation (Google) and they won't even make an attempt to contact you.

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Sometimes I think this is the point.

Like lately out cell service has been horrible at the house and my wife keeps asking me to call them but why? It's just going to be screaming into the void of some automated system and nothing will be done.

Call to cancel your account, mention moving to another service, etc. Often times companies will transfer you to more empowered "retention specialists".

Recently, I noticed my broadband fees were double what the company would charge a new customer at the same address. I reached out to the telecom and stated with the “I’d like to close my service” track. That got me a human but when it was clear that my issue was price they had a script for that. It was full of delays and circular “offers”. After a hour it finally end with their final offer - split the difference between what I am paying and the new customer price. What is amazing to me is that another competitor offers the same new customer price they do and it all uses the same infrastructure. It is literally a terminal entry switching process. Apparently they have calculated they can keep more a actually lose very few customers.

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