This can work. I have mixed results these days, usually down to issues of finding the right email addresses. I've been using SignalHire, but I need to use one with a deeper, more accurate database.
Yeah, the trick is just getting to the other side of the "support wall". They go to great lengths to keep customers from wasting all their time (which frankly would indeed happen), but if you can get through (err, around) with a legitimate issue, the person on the other side usually cares about getting it fixed.
