I spent several years in both Tier 1 and Tier 2 support for several companies. Generally speaking, I found companies that failed to provide a high level of sup

I spent several years in both Tier 1 and Tier 2 support for several companies. Generally speaking, I found companies that failed to provide a high level of support did so not because it was particularly profitable, but because they either A) Wanted to cut costs and off-shore as much of the operations as possible or B) Were struggling financially and unable to support their product Working as Tier 2 support for Apple I can tell you that I gave away free products (From the Apple Online Store) constantly. I required no approval for products $300 and under in value. The only caveat being that Apple did not give away ANY of its own products. Some days I would give away more money in free products than I made working that day. Apple is doing fantastic financially. When I worked for Frontier Communications (Who are currently being investigated on a few fronts for failing to maintain their network and refused to take questions from investors at their last quarterly earnings call) I was basically unable to help anyone who called in unless their problem was user error. Any customer who had an issue with something on our end was basically given the shaft. I've had much more middle of the road experiences as well, but those are the two polar opposites that I've had in my early working experience.