It is amazing that people expect to receive quite valuable advice for free. They would not expect to receive products for free from a shop and yet they are surprised when a company whose product is advice actually charges them.
This can be the case in many situations from insurers not on comparison websites to financial advice to managed print services. People are quite happy to pay out thousands in a financial product, yet they baulk at paying a small percentage of this to receive good advice.
Yet you have to remember that nothing is free and it is likely that 'expert' advice given freely might not be so expert at all. If they are not confident enough to charge for their services then maybe the service is not so valuable after all! I am also a little suspicious when I am offered free things as invariably there is a catch.
Another possibility is that people who offer free services or advice may well be biased towards a particular product, either as a personal interest or because they receive a commission on sales.
Slowly, people, and especially businesses, are waking up to paying for advice, as can be seen by the rise in consultancy – which certainly does not come cheap. You can make some serious false economies if you are not willing to pay the market price.
