Cisco is networking, and aws/azure are cloud services i don't think it's really the same as consulting.
The horror story of some consultancy is akin to going to a palm reader. Whereas the example you have is more like going to buy a family car and getting upsold to a Ferrari. There is nothing wrong with the Ferrari you just should have known you only needed the Mazda.
You still don't get what you wanted but one is selling you snake oil and the other is just good at sales.
