WARNING: Rant incoming!
It occurs to me that customer service is becoming more of a joke, mostly because they are seen as the bottom of the heap in IT terms. Phone jockeys. People who have but one goal in life which is to tell users to turn it off and on again. Those who are serious about the work often get crapped on, both by their superiors and in monetary terms because they are seen as grunts.
There's an old, old saying. Pay peanuts, get monkeys. I'd go further than that in that I believe that the monkeys are already in residence at some companies and nothing is being done about it. Those that are willing to be trained aren't being trained. As long as they get through umpteen calls a day, dealing with all sorts of levels of user competence and temper, sticking (at least superficially) to the standard and following procedure, then all is right with the world. That's how I see such companies as BT with whom I have had plenty of dealings with over the years and have had more to complain about than to compliment.
Not every service centre or help desk is that bad. I know of such groups that work well together and provide a level of support that BT users would envy if they came across it. They understand that ITIL is a framework and know how to apply it, not a handy badge to make them look good in the eyes of their peers. Would that every company were as serious.