Interestingly, as the breadth and complexity of Google product grows, the need for true customer service grows, disproportionately. Very few of us needed "customer support" for Google Search, but for many of their newer, more complex products, it's a must. Google either missed this need altogether, or they decided that even with crappy/no CS, they could still make a killing with half-assed products/support. Thoughts?
I think you are right - and for me having bad customer support is a miss. If the customer support "costs" why don't include that cost in the products price? Bad customer support @ Google has turned me away from their Google Docs. Customer support is also needed when the UI is not self-explanatory like Google's very often.
They have Google Apps for the Enterprise, but very often you can't reach the Enterprise without the proper support, product documentation and service. From the other hand, I got very positive experience with Microsoft support which proves that "Customer support at scale" is possible.
I have actually written to them about my issues and I'm waiting for a response ever since.