There are three main problems with pay-as-you-go support based on time. All three come down to support being provided by people:
1) Unlike software objects, it is not yet possible to instantiate qualified support personnel as needed.
2) Unlike virtual machines, people get very cranky if you attempt to suspend them to disk or delete them to save resources when not in use.
3) Unlike physical hardware, uploading large volumes of data to people so they can produce useful output is extremely time-consuming and resource-intensive.
Here's a more serious answer:
When you seek (qualified) support, you're not paying for the time it takes the person to type the right answer; you're paying for them to know the right answer. (See also: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/know-where-man/)
It took us quite a while to figure that out, and we tried pay-as-you-go support along the way, as someone linked below. l-lousy correctly guessed the outcome of that: more time spent arguing with people about how much we charged them for support than providing support.
Worse, that's how the person providing support makes their (minimal) income: by nickels and dimes and on other people's schedules. So, if you're doing that job, you're making very little money and frequently dealing with angry people due to a system you have no control over.
It's the tech support version of being an Amazon delivery driver. Amazon may be cool with treating people like that, but I'm not.
One detail l-lousy did get wrong (as others observe) is the 15 minutes. $5 is 5 minutes or less of a qualified person's time.
That does assume people want qualified support and not first-tier "I can't be bothered to search the FAQ, read me the right one!" interactions.
Usually, but by no means always, that's a reasonable assumption for us. People looking for that level of hand-holding tend to be much more successful with other hosting services with multiple tiers of support and (usually) phone support.
1) Unlike software objects, it is not yet possible to instantiate qualified support personnel as needed.
2) Unlike virtual machines, people get very cranky if you attempt to suspend them to disk or delete them to save resources when not in use.
3) Unlike physical hardware, uploading large volumes of data to people so they can produce useful output is extremely time-consuming and resource-intensive.
Here's a more serious answer:
When you seek (qualified) support, you're not paying for the time it takes the person to type the right answer; you're paying for them to know the right answer. (See also: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/know-where-man/)
It took us quite a while to figure that out, and we tried pay-as-you-go support along the way, as someone linked below. l-lousy correctly guessed the outcome of that: more time spent arguing with people about how much we charged them for support than providing support.
Worse, that's how the person providing support makes their (minimal) income: by nickels and dimes and on other people's schedules. So, if you're doing that job, you're making very little money and frequently dealing with angry people due to a system you have no control over.
It's the tech support version of being an Amazon delivery driver. Amazon may be cool with treating people like that, but I'm not.
One detail l-lousy did get wrong (as others observe) is the 15 minutes. $5 is 5 minutes or less of a qualified person's time.
That does assume people want qualified support and not first-tier "I can't be bothered to search the FAQ, read me the right one!" interactions.
Usually, but by no means always, that's a reasonable assumption for us. People looking for that level of hand-holding tend to be much more successful with other hosting services with multiple tiers of support and (usually) phone support.