You’ve got to hand it to Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, Symantec and the other high-tech companies for how they have trained their customers to beg for service when their products break down.

It’s a business model that says, “You can stick your customer service right up your anti-virus. We didn’t get rich by having to talk to our customers in person. Wait on the phone and someone will get to you when we darned well please.”

I understand that computer nerds don’t like to deal with people in the real world, but when did American consumers decide they’re fine with having virtual customer service when their computers don’t work? If we got that kind of treatment after buying a washing machine or a refrigerator, we wouldn’t stand for it.

But we’ve become sheep in the electronic world, allowing those in the high-tech industry to sell us expensive gadgets and then accepting their refusal to give reasonable technical support when there are problems.

What if we transferred this customer-service model to the rest of American business?

Imagine buying a car and it broke down by the time you got it home. Don’t you dare call the dealership because once you’re out the door, you have to deal with the manufacturer — by e-mail or phone.

So in this hypothetical, you call Ford to say your brand-new car won’t run. An automated voice says a customer-service representative won’t come on the line for an estimated two hours. That voice also says you might want to e-mail your service request.

You aren’t an auto mechanic, but that’s OK; they’ll walk you through the problem with your new car. But you can’t decipher the e-mail instructions for fixing the car, so you opt to wait on the phone to talk to someone in person. Maybe they’ll help, maybe they won’t.

Fortunately, the auto industry…