This has been my experience too. Always. Without fail. Though I still believe it must be because many (if not most) firms invest very little in their HR depart

This has been my experience too. Always. Without fail. Though I still believe it must be because many (if not most) firms invest very little in their HR departments and hence they get what they pay for and employees make do with it until something blows up; e.g. scenarios like this. And I am sure there are stellar HR departments out there I have never interacted with. But then again an industry, a field, or a practice is usually stereotyped based on the reputation of the majority and majority in this case, in my humble opinion, seems to be lying somewhere down south.