Before we talk about agencies, let’s start with a more honest question.
Am I actually being ripped off? Or does it just feel that way?
These are different problems with different solutions. And conflating them, which most people do, leads to bad decisions in both directions. You either stay in a bad relationship too long because you’re not sure, or you walk away from a good one because something felt off that you didn’t fully understand.
So before anything else: sit with that question honestly. Because the answer shapes everything that follows.
AI has handed you expert knowledge for free
Here’s something genuinely new that’s worth acknowledging.
For the first time in history, you have access to something close to expert-level knowledge across almost any domain: instantly, patiently, and for free. AI has democratised expertise in a way that nothing before it really did. If you don’t understand a line item in a digital quote, you can ask. If you don’t know whether a proposed technical approach makes sense, you can ask. If you want to understand what a development methodology actually means in practice, you can ask.
This is remarkable. Ten years ago, evaluating whether an agency was doing right by you required either deep technical knowledge or an expensive independent consultant. Now you have something that can explain almost anything to you in plain language, as many times as you need, without judgment.
But.
But AI is the world’s biggest yes-bot
AI is also the world’s biggest yes-bot.
Ask it “is my agency ripping me off?” and it will construct a thorough, well-reasoned case that yes, they probably are. Rephrase the question (“is my agency actually delivering good value?”) and it will construct an equally thorough, equally well-reasoned case that yes, they probably are.
How many times have you rephrased a question to an AI and had it immediately agree with your new framing? That’s not analysis. That’s a mirror. It reflects what you bring to it, dressed up as expertise.
Walking into an agency armed with AI-generated conclusions is a little like walking into a doctor and telling them what you’ve self-diagnosed using Google, or walking into a mechanic and telling them exactly what’s wrong with the car. You might be right. You might be dangerously wrong. And the confidence that AI lends to your conclusions can make the dangerous version significantly worse: because you sound like you know what you’re talking about, even when you don’t.
What AI is good for when you’re evaluating an agency
So what’s AI actually good for in this situation?
Use it to build your expertise. Use it to understand what you’re looking at: what terms mean, what approaches involve, what reasonable industry practice looks like, what questions you should be asking. Let it make you more informed before you evaluate anything.
What you should not do is use it to reach the verdict for you.
“Am I being ripped off?” is an internal reflection. It’s a judgment call that requires context AI doesn’t have: your specific relationship, your specific project history, your specific business situation. Ask AI to inform that judgment, not to make it.
When to bring in an independent expert
If, after building your knowledge and sitting honestly with the question, you still can’t tell. That’s the moment to get a human expert involved.
Someone outside the situation. Someone with no relationship with the agency, no product to sell you, no incentive beyond giving you an honest read. Someone who can look at what’s being proposed, what’s been delivered, what it’s costing, and tell you whether it makes sense.
This is a different thing from what AI can offer. A human expert brings judgment built from experience, pattern recognition from having seen hundreds of similar situations, and the ability to ask follow-up questions that change the analysis. They can tell you not just whether the quote is fair but whether the whole approach is right.
And critically, they’ll push back on you. AI generally won’t. That’s not a feature. It’s a limitation.
The honest answer to whether you’re being ripped off
The question in the title of this article is the right one to ask. But the answer isn’t a checklist or a red-flag list or a set of questions to run past an AI tool.
The answer is: build enough understanding to evaluate it yourself, and know when you’ve hit the limit of what you can evaluate alone. At that point, get someone in the room who’s genuinely on your side.
That conversation, with the right person, is usually shorter than you’d expect. And considerably cheaper than the alternative.
Garth Shoebridge has spent 25 years on both sides of the agency relationship: as a consultant, as a subcontractor, and as the independent voice helping businesses work out what they’re actually getting. If you’re not sure whether your agency is delivering, start with a conversation.