Excellence is achieved through caring about the end result, and your customers perception of the end result, no matter what you do or how you do it.
The LAQ in the original post does not understand that. Unfortunately, she may never understand that. But her lack of courtesy and business acumen has nothing to do with how she quilts or the path she followed to learn LAQ.
The first two (which were also the last two) quilts I had professionally long armed were done by a young woman who has published several books on quilting and long arming.
The results were less than stellar, but the cost was out of this world. That is why I bought my computer guided system and trained myself to quilt on it. My quilts now (not at first!) turn out much better than the ones she did for me. I often wish I could get them back and do them over.