@labtech, let me first make the observation that lcoughey didn't specify any particular software product in his initial post. Obviously, if any DR company were recommending SpinRite or HDD Regenerator, then this would be a cause for concern. However, it does appear that he was referring to software developed by the DR companies rather than by third parties.
As for your question, I would refer you to the sci.electronics.repair newsgroup where professionals routinely and unselfishly provide help to novices. The group's FAQ provides a wealth of free information on the repair of numerous consumer devices. Some of the stuff is outdated, but it was a great work in its day.
http://www.repairfaq.org/REPAIR/F_Repair.htmlMy experience at HDD Guru has been the exact opposite. When I joined 5 years ago, I was ridiculed and abused, as were many (most?) visitors (what kind of profession despises its customers?). During those bad days the moderator had a hands-off attitude towards the forum, with the result that a "clique" of DR pros had essentially taken over the place and turned it into a referral service for their buddies. The usual advice of the day was to "send it to a pro". It is only in recent years that the forum has been cleaned up, and today it is a far cry from what it once was.
On the availability of information, just about every titbit, however trivial, was hoarded as if it were some industry busting secret. In fact one of the pros contacted me privately and essentially told me that if I kept their secrets to myself, they would look after me. IIRC, at that time I was advising people about logical recoveries and shorted TVS diodes. The idea that protection diodes were a jealously guarded secret just blew my mind, especially since I'd seen them in lots of different equipment, including TVs, VCRs, DVD players, and even in an airplane (imagine lowering landing gear by hand after a TVS diode shuts down the electronics).
For several years afterwards, several of the forum members, and one in particular, did nothing else but undermine my attempts to help DIY-ers. I had never encountered anything like it in any other forum. The experience has left me profoundly bitter and cynical.
Worse still, I quickly found out that the professionals knew a great deal less than they claimed. In fact I was horrified to find that there was no official accreditation body, so essentially anybody could start a data recovery business. And therein lies the problem -- how can anyone tell if a particular data recovery company can deliver on its claims? IMO the only real way to assess their ability is to examine their body of work, and the only practical way to do that is via their web site.