Merrill Lynch “Macs are no good. Go to your library and use a PC”

This might be a "knows enough to be dangerous" type of situation. An expert in one field seems like an idiot to an expert in a similar, but different, field.

For instance I swore up and down that my Time Warner cable modem had blown up, and repeatedly called demanding for a replacement. I was a damned computer expert, and I knew the thing bloody well wasn't working.

So the tech comes, and we turn on the lights, and the thing works. It was plugged into a socket that was switched with the lights.

The tech support people are trained for "idiots" and they are not trained for computer experts that have varying opinions that may well be correct. Also, they aren't trained in understanding, or taking reports on, subtle cross-platform browser bugs.

I've been impressed with tech support that connects me with an expert who has both my experience and accent, but at some point I think someone in this mess would've just tried a different browser. It isn't like that was above the skill level of anyone involved.