... The pain of Access comes when the database gets too big, too slow, or the app just gets too unwieldy. Then we as DBA’s and developers get called in to “fix” the problem ...

The pain goes well beyond these technical difficulties, because Access databases and their accompanying 'apps' are often written by people outside the IT department - meaning the business becomes increasingly reliant upon databases and applications which are not properly maintained, backed-up, or designed.

Access does have its place; I've found it to be useful for database schema and application prototyping. But like any tool, there is a right and a wrong job for Access.