Free Service vs. Pay Sites; which is better?

Simple Question ?

Well, yes and no.
Just apply a little common sense!
DO you pay your bills? Well, unless you happen to be a lottery winner or had wealthy parents chances are you have to work to make ends meet. Let me assume for a moment that you do not work for free... Duuuh.
Are you happy with your job; and with your pay check ?
Would you like to make more money ?

Ah... well, guess what. The guy (or gal) that runs the free service feels the same way! There is only so much you can do with your pocket change. If you run a site, ANY SITE, it will cost you time and money. And if your visitors don't pay you there is a simple limit as to what you can do. No matter how enthusiastic and dedicated you are.

Now, these pearls of wisdom do not mean that a PAY service is automatically better! Far from it. There are plenty of 'garage agencies' that charge an arm and a leg and still can, or will not provide a decent service.
So, a little caution and a little checking out is a good idea.

Question to ask?

How long in business?
So your new girl will come from a guy that started his business yesterday? Ah, so that makes you the 'BETA' tester then. Good luck !!

Clearly, a company that's been in this tough business for a number of years and owns some of the real estate it is using will be a better partner than the guy in the aforementioned garage.

Where located?
In case of problems a US based agency is easier to get a 'legal' hold of. If you pay money to some guy in Bogota (no offense)... there is not much you can do if things go wrong.

Agency or Agent?
Are you dealing with the actual agency or some guy who acts as an agent?

What about assets... do they rent or own their offices or even the hotel?

It's a simple fact, if you screw people and/or supply lousy products or services you will usually not survive for long and certainly will not be able to make enough profit to buy real estate. OK, Microsoft^® may be the exception to the rule :-) And if you are a Microsoft lawyer... don't bother to complain. I'll gladly send you a compilation of my BLUE SCREEN collection...