I try not to use services where I can, but if i think its a decent post and I want to get it into the Hot page I'll generally look on Steem Bot Tracker website to see what has the potential to give decent ROI fairly quickly. I try to use those in only the last half hour of their waiting period in case someone comes in and buggers it all up.
I haven't used re-steem services as I don't trust this to actually have any ROI as there are SO many fake accounts that the bot can own just to say its been resteemed from 50 accounts. That to me is a major scam.
Curie is also another good one, but VERY hard to get in to. I can't use it anymore though as I dont meet their criteria any more.
I can understand the scam part ; although i think the follower count has a bit to do with the price itself being a bit of a rip off, and since i see other people using resteem services i thought i would try my hand at it since im not actually a bot, and i like to use transparency when i do any kind of business .
I also have been taking a look at the bot tracker as well, although i do not have enough SBD to actually use any services - i have done a few tests, some of which were okay, some of which were disappointing to say the least ; which is what makes me want to look for services ;
I have seen a few that were not bots but actual shops and auctions recently - i feel like i need just one large post that i could spend a week on - and just try to get everything together all in one post .
I feel like that would help the community find information easier then searching through different places just to find one or two that may or may not be reliable .