Paid directory links--good or bad thing to do for Prof. Services sites?

[Stratocaster]

Yes, I am pretty darn new to SEO and have heard that Google doesn't like Paid directory links.  I have looked at some of my competition and they must have paid to get in certain directories as I don't see any backlinks posted on their home pages (usually a badge or icon must be placed on the homepage to avoid a fee.)

[irvingw]

It's bad, don't engage in buying links on paid directories if you are trying to build links. Google may or may not penalize them depending on the amount of links and the ratio of good to bad link pointing at their site.

[josh-riley]

There's a lot of things companies do with their websites that are bad ideas and paid links are a big one.