I don't think it's malice, or at least as cynical as you make it. It might as well be as simple as the social customer service department being younger and thus

I don't think it's malice, or at least as cynical as you make it. It might as well be as simple as the social customer service department being younger and thus not having been subject to the iron law of bureaucracy for so long. Their budget possibly comes out of marketing, not customer service, and thus isn't subject to being considered a pure cost centre. Social media is sexy, when someone from that department makes a call, they are more likely to reach someone who think it's fun to dig into an issue that when someone from the phone bank (to the extent they're encouraged or even allowed to) reaches out. Finally, both volume and S/N of social media pings are much better for many firms as long as the people contacting you through those channels tend towards being young and savvy, but that will change quickly as people catch on, and the canned "Oh I'm sorry to hear that, please call our customer service department on ...." responses that we're already starting to see will become much more prevalent. When thinking about customer service in big companies, it's important to remember that the vast majority of calls legitimately are of the sort that only require a very simple action to be taken, and then to be disconnected as quickly as possible. However frustrating, it's not irrational hatred of customers that makes it difficult to break through that assumption when you do have a more complicated issue.