Pay for the result not the service

I saw Miami Vice on DVD the other day and one bit stood out for me.

The bad guy drug lord says something along the lines of "At this price, I'm not paying for the service, I'm paying for the result".

But this should always be the case!

You don't pay someone to try and do something, you pay them to do it.

The service is always the means to an end. People pay for the end result, the means to an end shouldn't get in the way. It should be reliable, accurate, discrete and value for money.