Have you not realised that the majority of people on this forum are customers and not AS employees. It certainly not RICK's "service" as you put it. (He's not even a shareholder!)
If you'd read the forum's previous postings you'd have seen many people's enthusiasm for the AS product. No sniping product can offer 100% reliability as there are so many variables that can affect a snipe.
You're right - if you want 100% reliability then bid yourself but you could still lose if outbid or too late. The unfortunate thing with the manual method is that you'll only have youself to blame...
R2