I use to feel that way, in fact the first contractor i worked for owes me about $5k, and was hitting me with all kind of bogus charge backs, ghosting my tech number and not paying on time. when i left that company, i stayed out of the field about a month. During that time I kept getting calls from other contractors, and i finally gave one of them a chance. It turned out to be a good move. I have not been charged back for anything, i connect enough phone lines, i establish a good relationship with all of my customers, and i do good work. I have not had one service call in 3 months. sometimes there r small problems or questions, but the customers always call me. I hardly ever drive more then 20 miles from my house, in fact last week i did 2 installs that i could see from my house. 90% of my jobs are installs, and no service calls at all. All the above was the total opposite with the first contractor.
So believe it or not, there r some good companies that reward good techs.
one more thing, i got my birdog meter used for $200.00 a year ago.