While I agree with the implicit general sentiment that tech support is less than desired at most houses, my personal experience is that Axis is still, by far, the 'gold standard' in tech support in our Industry. In fact, their tech support is the principal reason I prefer to vend thier products. I don't use them more than every month or so at this time, but I have seen no appreciable drop off over the last couple of years, even with some new folks coming on board. They do have many long term, highly skilled folks, in my experience.
For me, I test the tech support group vigorously before I ever vend a single item from any company - it gets a 40% weighting in my consideration of tech partners.
Yes, I am an 'Axis certified professional' (took the classes), so having a partner ID certianly gets you to someone quicker, if there's a queue. However, even from the queue, you get the same first tier folks at Axis as a partner does (it appears to me), who are better than tier two+ at most anyone else I've tried.
And, I've only engaged 8-10 vendors in our space, but without 'damning' any of them, none compares to Axis in my experience - attitude (very important, to me), detailed knowledge of thier products, willingness to stick it out until resolution is reached, timely follow-through on tickets.
Having led tech enterprises globally for 30+ years in a former life, I can say that it is extremely difficult to get the appreciation and recognition - and therfore, the resources - that the tech support group needs in any high tech product market. In my experience, it is often the single 'stickiest' characteristic engendering brand loyalty, and the key differentiator of the most successful companies. But, 'bean counters' keep recognizing that it generates no direct revenue, and when they try to turn it into a 'profit center' it almost always does the opposite, and the souring relationship with the end customer soon drives off the best of the tech staff, leading to a death spiral. Can't count how many times I've seen billion dollar, global companies screw this up.
It's easy to carp on this subject, because it is so impactful, but I highly recommend speaking/emailing directly to supervision at any vendor to both praise and 'coach' regarding tech support - this gives them something directly from the customer to 'take upstairs' when they go to battle over budget and attention.