This has nothing to do with being afraid and they can be reputable, that's good. But the fact is that they are bound by the same laws you are and there is NOTHING they can do that you can't do yourself. It is a self fulfilling prophecy unfortunately because when they get something removed its often for the same reasons you get them removed yourself, the CRA fails to do it in a timely manner and is required to remove it. Nothing to do with specialized skills. You would hire and attorney to help you when you are in jail or getting sued but this is not even close to the same thing. These companies are a room full of computers, canned letters and a bunch of people hired to work $7-10/hour to punch in your information, print, put in envelope and mail. There is no specialized anything. They only legitimately use the statute that allows them to do this for you for a fee to run a business and make money. You could pay someone to go do your grocery shopping for you too but that doesn't mean they have some special skill that allows them to do it and you can't do it yourself. If someone doesn't have time, then I can see them being useful but otherwise, totally unnecessary. But hey, to each their own and if someone is happy with them, then all the power to them, just providing perspective for the other side too. 