Let me give you my latest anecdote. I order a can of paint from Lowes. They send me the wrong color. I reach out to their customer support. I ask them to send me the correct color of paint. They inform me that they don't have power to do anything as they aren't the correct team. I ask who the correct team is. They give me a phone number to call for a customer support line that closed three hours ago. I call the next day, and they tell me that they too are powerless to do anything and that I need to return the can of paint I ordered online to the brick and mortar store.

At this point, I don't give a shit about the $16 of paint, I'm not spending two hours of my day to return this can of paint at the lowes store on the other side of town. It's about the principle. A sane company would have replied with the first (and only) customer support team with something like "I'm so sorry! We are shipping you the correct color right now." That sane response used to be the norm 10 years ago, because a $16 loss on one can of paint is far less than losing a customer for life who will now make it their life's mission to deter friends and family from patronizing your business.

But they know that you won't. Next time you need to buy a can of paint, you'll go back to Lowe's because you figure there's a 99% chance they won't mess it up again, and meanwhile the Home Depot is even further away and not really any better. Meanwhile, companies that provide "good" customer service are continuously preyed upon by customers who waste their time and scam them. Personally, if I were you, I'd just take the L on this one. Someday, someone will solve this problem by opening a business that offers absolutely no returns, no customer services, and charges 10% less. I will shop there gladly.