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"Cognitive dissonance is the idea that when people do something painful they become more committed to the goal."

No. Cognitive dissonance is the pain caused by having two contradictory ideas at once.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_dissonance

...which usually leads to a change in understanding or explanation to rectify the conflict. In this case, the cognitive dissonance, paying a large amount of money (by necessity) for a service of unknown quality, is resolved by commitment to the resolutive idea that the service is of very high quality and is deserving of the high price.

Yes, the wording is technically incorrect, but the common usage of "cognitive dissonance" is generally about practical implications, like this.

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