Google is on track to see a $14 bil pre-tax profit for 2013.
If they spent 15% of that ($2.1 bil) on support, with say a mix of 2/3 low pay ($100k/yr cost) and 1/3 high pay ($150k/yr cost) people... they could hire 18,000 additional support staff and still show a great profit.
That works out to 30 mil support hours assuming 1680 hrs/yr (35 hrs * 48 weeks) actually spent on support. They could probably hire twice that many people by hiring some people in less expensive areas.
To sum up, Google puts making a more money ahead of better support. It's their right to do so, but it not "unrealistic" for them to provide much better support.
Your numbers don't quite work - Google has to pay taxes, benefits, office space, training, perks, equipment, recruitment costs, and so on. And then, have you tried to hire 18,000 people? Finally, Google's reported head count is around 40K - you are suggesting adding about 50% just for support. That's a tough sell to your investors. Where would all these people go. Mountain View is basically Google these days - the office I am sitting in will be razed for a Google parking lot (goodbye beautiful trees :( ). You have to factor in how many new buildings, how many new buses and bus drivers, city taxes, chefs, HR personnel - it goes on and on. The phrase "google scale" doesn't just apply to their apps.
I'm not disputing that they could improve their support, just the price tag and scale that you have placed on it.
If they spent 15% of that ($2.1 bil) on support, with say a mix of 2/3 low pay ($100k/yr cost) and 1/3 high pay ($150k/yr cost) people... they could hire 18,000 additional support staff and still show a great profit.
That works out to 30 mil support hours assuming 1680 hrs/yr (35 hrs * 48 weeks) actually spent on support. They could probably hire twice that many people by hiring some people in less expensive areas.
To sum up, Google puts making a more money ahead of better support. It's their right to do so, but it not "unrealistic" for them to provide much better support.