How are they making money again?

I placed a reservation over the phone on the 9/2/13 for 4 to LAX return. I was given until 4pm on the 12/2/13 to make full payment. I called at 3pm to enquire if I would be able to make a change to the date of travel as I wanted to change the return date. I was told that it wouldn't be a problem and would cost nothing because payment had yet to be made. So I rushed to the nearest ticketing counter eager to purchase my tickets. When I arrived at the counter at 3.40pm, I was told that system was down! It was a nationwide system crash. I was understandably upset and on the suggestion of the counter staff, I called the Call Centre to make sure that I would not lose my booking price. The call centre staff were also unable to accept payment because their system was also down. However, the staff member I spoke to; a Mr. Hasly, extended my deadline to 2pm on the 15/2/13. He assured me that I would not lose the booking price. I called the Call Centre the very next day and I was told that since the promotion period was over, a senior sales staff would call me back. So I waited and waited and waited for the call and received no call. I called the centre again on the morning of the 14th and I
was given the same run around again! I must admit I lost my temper a little bit. So finally I got through to a call centre staff called Anisah, who proved to be quite helpful. However, despite bearing the brunt of my annoyance, she was in no position to help as the staff member who could actually accept the payment was not at work yet. I get a call back from a Yasmin and she tells me that despite what I had been expressly told, I would in fact have to pay extra to change the date on my return flight. So here I am, stuck with possibly paying RM400 more per ticket for something that was not even my fault!
I cannot understand how MAS makes any money. My father spoke to Yasmin when she called back for the payment and she tells us flat out that there are multitude seats available on the return we want and yet they will not let us buy those tickets for the price we were promised. Of course we were given the old tried and tested line of how the employee made a promise they weren't even authorised to make.
Well as it turns out, it might a blessing in disguise because while all this was going on, I found that flying via Cathay Pacific into San Francisco would be cheaper! Take that Malaysia Airlines! Best Cabin Crew be damned, none of that even matters a damn if the company can't get butts in the damn seats!
Just Me!