I'm not into the paying for help. I help people for free, in fact I downright have refused rewards before. But I do understand the desperation people have when they try time and time again to accomplish something and can't because not everyone is willing to help.
I guess you could say I leeched my Carby Mitts. I didn't pay for the help. In fact, I didn't even think getting them was possible. But some good friends took me for my birthday and helped me aquire them. I was level 46.
Some of the same people who did that are also willing to do the Fenrir fight with me when I am ready to go. They don't expect me to get to 70-75 first. But I have put the 65 requirement on me before we go. I am going to try to do something nice for these people, not in the form of gil, as a thank you. Are they asking for it? No. There is always the chance they won't accept what I plan to do for them. And truth be told, I want to do it for them even without the Fenrir thing because they are my friends. I don't consider help from friends cheating. The way this game is designed, you need help to do anything. I helped a friend get rank 3 before she even had her chocobo license. She managed to get around and do all of the legwork herself and build a party for the final fight and needed one more person to go. I went. Some would have considered her a leech because she was below cap when she went in. But she participated and we won with ease.
Not everyone is lucky enough to have a good group of people to do these things with and shouts in Jueno or other towns often get ignored by people who just don't want to help without reward. That's where the custom of paying people started.
Fenrir to summoners is like the sniper rings and other equipment to other jobs. At certain levels, if we don't have him, parties don't want us. It doesn't matter that we don't have the option of going to the auction house and paying for him. What's the difference of a summoner paying someone to take them into the fight and someone else buying their spells/equipment at the ah when the lack of Fenrir can be the cause of just as many being kicked from parties as lack of the so called best equipment? I understand he was meant to be a reward for advancing so far in the game, but with the people who demand what they perceive as the best in their party, not having him can really hurt someone's chances of leveling. It shouldn't, but it does. So yeah, I can see why people resort to this. And that is why it doesn't bother me when they do.