Interesting how the above responses all said they paid for Google Apps and then used the support, nothing wrong with that, but it seems as soon as you pay for something that offers support, people then feel like they need to use it just because they can, almost as a justification for paying for it.
I can't see why you would need support for a single personal GMail account? What problem could you possibly have that Google haven't spotted or the answer isn't available on the internet somewhere?!
a quick glance on the gmail support forums will answer your uncertainties. (hint: most of the serious ones are about loosing access and/or sec issues)
when I got locked out of my account with 2-step auth (a specific set of coincidences led to it), seeking help took over a week, 3 or 4 threads on the group, almost stalking a moderator (they are the ones who handle the support, and then contact the real google) so I got attention, after which for a few days I was in a dance between questions of doubtful relevance and requests to repeat the recovery process for the n-th time, etc. in the end, the guy was very helpful, and you should keep in mind they are the only ones that can actually rush somehow your process and you are at their mercy. needless to say, the overall experience with google support is terrible, painful and very frustrating.
I'd really pay a few bucks so I could message google directly explaining my specific problem and seek direct help instead of trying to convince a volunteer on a forum for a week, rewording the same problem for 10 times. and yes, my problem was specific enough so the automated process couldn't cover it and I actually needed a person, not a bot.
I had a similar issue - I couldn't recover my email after it was compromised (on a side note - a log in from South Korea, Burma and US spanning an hour seems like a candidate for suspicious activity?) I couldn't use the recovery email or provide proof of ownership which complied with whatever algorithm had been implemented - was basically rendered helpless even though I could provide other details such as exactly when I had set up the email and other personal details. Incredibly frustrating and fair enough it is a free service but I would've happily paid for some "support" and saved a lot of trouble. Instead it has caused me to migrate as much away from G as possible and rethink any dependencies.
Interesting how the above responses all said they paid for Google Apps and then used the support, nothing wrong with that, but it seems as soon as you pay for something that offers support, people then feel like they need to use it just because they can, almost as a justification for paying for it.
I can't see why you would need support for a single personal GMail account? What problem could you possibly have that Google haven't spotted or the answer isn't available on the internet somewhere?!