I too find the actions of the operators absolutely unforgivable, but I'd like to point out something that really hasn't been mentioned. The fact that the young man accepted how he was being treated, as far as we can tell from the information given.
I work in a very dynamic industry where I deal with people face to face constantly, sometimes under not too pleasant situations. However, I'm always courteous and go out of my way to help people. However, when I'm dealing with someone over the phone and they don't give me the service I expect, I always talk to a supervisor, and if need be, THEIR supervisor. There is always someone higher on the food chain. I don't want to sound harsh or unsympathetic, believe me I would not wish that on anyone. But somehow we forget how to keep asking for what we want until we get it. My 5 year old son asks me 20 times a minute if he can have or do something, and if he doesn't get the answer he wants, he keeps asking.
I too am of the mindset that we should always be prepared when venturing out, overprepared should be more like it.
When I went down the Green River in Utah for ten days with my best friend, we were overprepared. We had too much food, water, medical gear, shelter, clothing, etc. But that trip, and another like it two years later, taught me how to be overprepared with less. Ask yourself...what's the worst that can happen, then prepare for that. What's the best that can happen, and prepare for that. Either way, your covered.
If I did my job as badly as these dispatchers did theirs, I'm sure I'd be brought up on charges of negligence, endangerment, and a myriad of others that I can't even fathom.
This is just another reason to carry a PLB, SPOT, or similar device.