How is #3 any different than Comcast telling me to use their website when I'm calling to report an interruption <g> in my cable service?

I'm not a fan of Comcast support or their offerings, so you won't hear me saying anything positive about them.

However, and this has been said repeatedly - you are not being forced to use Comcast under financial penalty. You can search for other options. And if you experience egregiously bad service, you can (in some circumstances) get a reduction on your bill. These analogies with commercial situations are flawed.