Adobe's customer service is a big, stinky ball of doo

Apparently Adobe, in their infinite wisdom, has decided that Customer Support really isn't a high priority. As of March 2004 they only support "installation issues and product defects" free of charge; all other support is for a fee. And get this - they can't tell you whether or not it's a product defect until after they give you support, at which point you can't undo the service. So of course you have to provide a pre-approved credit card number prior to get support of any kind. Now wait. What's the advantage of actually paying for a licensed copy again?