There's certainly a spot between 1 and 2; one where the customer service that exists is reasonable, but horribly under-funded and under-appreciated by the business. I'd say half of all businesses fall into that bucket.

I know when I call my insurance or bank that I'll mostly get things sorted, however I need to jump through 101 hoops to get to the right person via a automated service. Stop being cheap and just hire some operators to wire you through to the right people. It's not terrible per-se, just some combination of good (helpful customer service reps) and bad (automated operator).