Sten, I'm sure you're right, but I'd always advise caution in evaluating a service on such a small sample. If your friend has been using the service with good results, then as you say it must be good. I think the funding level for the service does allow them to do good work if they have enough volume and a low cost base.

As a student I had a vacation job in a factory making painting sets. There was a specific department that produced customer samples for evaluation, prior to orders being taken and this department made absolutely sure that all samples sent to potential clients were flawless. The same was definitely not true of the main production runs that produced good product but not to the same QC standards as was used for the samples.

Professionally I have seen companies sell services on the basis of very experienced specialists doing pre-sales work that wowed the potential customer, but execution of the main body of work was frequently delegated to much less experienced staff while some of those specialists contiuned pre-sales work with other potential clients.

In one case I did an audit of part of a small goverment department that had outsourced it's IT infrastructure to a commercial company, transferring employees into that company and while the majority of the IT staff remained in place, the more able/specialised IT staff were then re-deployed by the IT company in supporting work in other organisations and only returned to their original department when less able staff required assistance.

I could go on, but I have seen enough "questionable" behaviour by companies to gain clients that I do advise caution generally on the basis of free samples. No consumer organisation would recommend a company on such a basis. Companies naturally try harder to win new customers.

Since your recommendation is on the basis of your friends experience in addition to your sample, then all looks good and it's good to know that such useful services are out there.

I'm afraid to say I'll continue to exercise some caution with online companies I'm not well aquainted with - things don't always turn out so well.