A lot of this is true...for example I don't use the same bike setup in the winter when I am riding with more layers. But as far as the seat width, I have always been an advocate of not using words like "always" and "never"...because we do use a pad for seat width and it's a good starting point in hunting for a comfortable saddle so to say it has no relevance is baloney.

Like any other professional you hire, you should ask them for background and experience. But I 100% recommend that you receive some type of documentation on why the setup you now have, post-fitting, is better and what specifically it is. Ask what the process is, how long it typically takes, and how many times can you come back if you still have issues. One or two would be common, but we generally don't have repeats post fitting. We do have people that will come in each year for a fitting, espeically if they have lost or gained weight or had some other physical change.

If the bike that was brought in actually fits the rider but the setup is way off, we will give them instructions on how to incrementally change it to eventually get where they need to go. Seat height is a great example. This is to prevent injury.

Doing all this is why we end up with customers driving as much as six hours to come to us.

Ask a lot of questions of the person doing your fitting before you hand over your hard earned money. To help alleviate the potential trust factor, we keep a large supply of letters from customers thanking us for finally fixing their issues so they could ride comfortably. In our area, they are some letters from people that other customers would know.