In my opinion it is about scale and expecations. Depending on the ratio of active users per hour to the number of people capable of responding to chat requests.<p>Email everyone expects is effectively a queue, whereas a Chat request users expect to be answered quickly. If the application ration of users to support staff is too high, the wait would be long for a chat request thereby creating frustration for users which would then consider the support negatively, likely driving up cancellations or complaints.<p>The terms usually state emails will be answered within 4 hrs for emergency, 24 for standard support etc. This allows the team to prioritize and manage the workflow, versus Chat where it is very difficult to do that.<p>Phone support likewise is generally set for those high tiers where the ratio of users to staff is manageable so this is acceptable as well. Additionally, phone support might be the comfort of taking the support case, documenting it and sending it to development/support. Which is a different expectation than online Chat has for most people.