So I'm doing something wrong because I don't want to be ripped off for my hosting costs? That makes no sense ( for the record, my monthly hosting costs are more than $100 a month but I don't think that's relevant to whether I'm doing something right or wrong).

I'm happy that you found a reliable hosting service but you need to realise that there are a lot of cheaper services that offer reliable hosting. And just don't because they aren't focusing solely on the WordPress market does not mean that some companies don't have some very capable WP guys in their team.

As I noted before, I've used dozens of hosting services over the years. I experienced terrible support and downtime from a hosting company that was twice as expensive than its competitors - a company that promoted its good brand name and reliability heavily.

I'm not disputing wpengine or any of the companies you mentioned offer poor service but you need to recognise that their prices are high.

High prices need to be justified in my opinion. I pay less than $10 a year for my domains. Some uk domain companies charge £30 a year and charge you extra for features that should be free. Since they are charging 5 times more - does that make them better? I know you are not suggesting this but I'm trying to illustrate my point. Suggesting someone is doing something wrong because they don't want to be charged 3-4 times what competitors charge is ridiculous.