A subpar support experience is a support manager's worst nightmare. Nothing frightens them more than the prospect of a customer storming out because the agent took too long to respond to their support request. To allay their fears, most helpdesks allow emails to be escalated in the event of a SLA violation.
When an escalation occurs, it is the manager's (or whoever the issue was escalated to) responsibility to determine why the SLA was violated. If it is the agent's fault, the manager (or even the CEO) should not be afraid to intervene, apologise, and resolve the problem.
