Well I agree to what Mead and Andrew said. However, Andrew and Mead, the problem with majority of candidates is, they lack knowledge and some lack willingness to put in efforts to explore best options for them. Honestly, I feel the same.
Now talking about consultants, the one he is talking about is in India, Oceanic, If in Delhi then they are at Pitampura, Janak Towers. Yes they do not charge anything for application and in fact most of them don't such as Global, Kangroo etc. Some charge like Chopra's, Canam etc. Now ideally they shouldn't be charging as they make 5 to 10% of the tuition fee you pay to college which is huge. It's a shame they still charge. another defect with consultants is, they don't give you what you deserve or need, they give you what is beneficial to them. For example, no consultant, I bet no consultant will send to you Public University (usually they will refer you to Uni likes TRU and so on) as they don't get commission from Universities in fact universities do not even entertain consultants.
Now having said that, some people actually need to go to consultants (those who are think they are not really capable of taking a decision and do the needful as in the paper work).
However, there are plenty of such forums, and thousands of people ready to help each other. Finally, choices are of individuals to choose the path.
Oceanic isn't a bad option though.
Cheers!