I don't think most companies charge a lift-off fee, but certainly some do. Here in the land of the Golden Rule (those who have the gold make the rules) companies are free to charge whatever fees and amounts they like, and the market is supposed to take care of the customers. Of course, the market favors the one with the most money, but we aren't supposed to know that. Personally, I have nothing to do with billing, but I do know that the company I fly for doesn't charge a liftoff fee, just a fee per loaded mile. If the local EMS and fire departments knew we charged liftoff fees, they wouldn't call us nearly as often, and perhaps never. We get lots of calls before EMS even gets to the patient, based on the initial phone call, and it's not at all unusual to be called to cancel the flight after we're in the air, when the patient is found to be not so seriously injured. They call us because it takes time for them to get to the patient, and time for us to fly there, and that could be lots of wasted time, because it could take us well over half an hour to get to the scene, after they've spent perhaps a quarter to half an hour getting there by ambulance. If they cancel us, we just return to base, and no one is charged anything. If we fly the patient, the charge is by the mile from the pickup point to the hospital, based on GPS distance. Unfortunately, not every company uses this method, through greed or ignorance or a different idea of how things should be done.
Alouette, I think your sarcasm meter needs to be sent in for recalibration for failure to detect.