Let's be honest, we all try and do our best and, more often than not, we succeed. But, sometimes we run out of steam. And then someone else might step in, or we ask for help in the Water Cooler Call in the Cavalry thread.
As mentioned in the FAQ, you have the option of moving out of the thread if you are not able to provide any solution to it. So even if you have locked it for yourself (by clicking on the lock button), you can unlock yourself from it.

I'm just stirring the pot... but then why would anyone pay? If the simple solutions can come for free and the complex solutions may or may not be handled by the mods/admin then why should anyone purchase the points... Can someone for example post the problem and see how much people for a solution? I have seen this working really well at sites like Freelancer.com (which by the way gets a lot of people needing Excel solutions). My point is let's say I think this solution should cost me $1000. What I go and buy a $1000 worth of credits and still no one provides me with a solution... what then. Do I get my money back? Does the money stay with EF until I use it? How does it work from the point where the OP departs from their money to the point of getting a working solution they are satisfied with? How is conflict resolution going to be handled? Too many unanswered questions.
Have you even read the FAQ before posing all these questions? All the answers are right there for you to read.

Oh yeah, I find buying points before you can ask a question is down-right silly! The company I work for outsources sometimes but they don't typically pay until the deliverable is actually delivered. Hasn't there actually been some thinking with this regard? And why would anyone want to pay when there are so many sites on the interwebs that offer free help. This idea is very silly and I don't recall who mentioned it but it seems like a get-rich-quick scheme to me, or a try-hard get rich scheme.
Let there be other sites on the web offering free service, but if users prefer to get a job done by paying a few $, i dont see why it irritates you. Even before CS was introduced, there were quite a few posts where users were willing to pay a few bucks to get a particular job done.

After the initial subscription period is complete, the subscription will automatically be renewed with a new charge - This seems slightly odd
It is not odd, Kyle. Every subscription you take is valid for a month. Once your subscription expires, you need to renew it for a charge. Thats it.