I know with the SoE/Daybreak Layoffs we had to cut departments but why Phone Support??? It's much more personal and overall a more customer friendly approach. Having someone send you a message then you reply, then have them take a 4 day break before they respond with a generic response is highly disrespectful.
Mostly it's cost-cutting. It costs more to have someone answering phones as opposed to replying to e-mails because phone calls take up more time per contact. As for the wait time for responses, it can vary but if your contact was sent on a late Thursday or Friday, considering that outside of emergency support (outages, money fraud) no one is working until Monday. Daybreak, like most other small game companies, only work M-F. Between the layoffs and the conversion from SOE to Daybreak, the average turn around time on support contacts has risen from 24 hours to roughly 72 hours on the average.
Trust me... You might as well wait on the ticket because the last time I called support it took hours on hold.
The personal touch is what is missing in today's society. I'm sorry but I like HUMAN contact. I remember I needed to call back in November and talked to someone than. Very friendly, helpful and got my issue resolved in minutes. Now, it is all electronic interaction, the way of the future.
Good customer service requires companies to actually value their customers......so good luck w/ that one..