It's why sending a certified letter to the CEO is no different than filling out the standard webform. Except the former takes longer because somebody has to scan it in.

Complaints do get elevated, but not based on the addressee.

In addition, in any customer-facing organization, a few complaints a day are randomly sent to senior people just so that they can keep their finger on the pulse of what is going on and see how things are handled.

On the other hand, as in all customer-facing organizations, there are some customers who cannot be made happy. The name of the game is not to throw good money after bad and let them go.