Steam is great, until something goes wrong...

Holy hell Steam is not on my good list right now. I picked up the Company of Heroes complete pack for $12.50 or so, which is an excellent deal if you can actually get it to work. I got it to hold me over until Mass Effect 2 and instead I still can't even get the install to start.

Steam has decided to freeze whenever it is preparing the cache for the game, before even STARTING to download it. I can start other downloads just fine, and appear to be the only one having the issue. Normally this would be a simple matter of calling the company and working through tech support - not with Steam. Their only methods of tech support are to either:

1) Create a separate login for the forums, post, and hope someone can solve your problem so Steam doesn't have to. This failed miserably, and just had people going 'well, just hope Steam gets back to you soon, never heard of that issue before.'

2) Create a separate login for the 'submit a question' (yes, this is even different from the support forum login), submit your problem, and wait for a reply. I have been waiting over 4 days now, with no such reply, and no way to contact them at all.

So basically, they have my money, and I have no game. I have no way of contacting them. How on earth has the primary method of getting PC games gone this long without any real tech support system? I was so desperate that I switched my language to Spanish and my region to Europe, still no download start. From what I have read as well, when I do get a response it will be a canned piece of crap. Great. At least I have another game to play, but this has seriously made me consider never buying from them again - this time it was a $12.50 purchase, next time it could be a $60 preorder down the tubes.