lengthy chat in my mind equates to longer than 5 minutes? They don't answer because they have a 'few on the go' at once.....easy is 'sorted'.....difficult gets the shaft

Yes OP, that's exactly what ebay CS do when faced with tough questions. They will get rid of you very quickly, or shift you around and tire you out. And no survey link is sent after such conversations.

As sellers we are expected to live with such dismal service as they make the rule.

They have a script with some sort of FAQ, like MBG/cases/disputes (if there are no complications of course) and Managed Payments. For everything else, they will transfer you, even for really simple questions.

I assume the CS representatives cannot take decisions for eBay when a situation is unusual (like some situations that have been described here), but they should really know more. They basically read from scripts that are very similar to the help section, so people could as well go to the help section themselves, although, yes, I understand that some people don't like reading lengthy pages, which is a bit silly if they need help or are unsure about something.