Given the choice between the phone and livechat, as far as real-time support goes, I'll take the chat any day of the week and twice on sunday. Good chat software makes multi-tasking a ton easier, and you can very easily avoid those awkward moments of silence where the customer is just dying to chit-chat with you about the weather in your neck of the woods. If the issue can't be resolved in a chat just open a ticket for the client and let them know it's being looked into. Some clients will always want to go with the real-time option, over emailing/ticket systems. Chat is a great way to let them know someone is awake behind the wheel and that they aren't sending tickets to /dev/null.