Bad (external) recruiters are absolutely the norm. I'm sure a good one exists somewhere but I've never interacted with one. They are shady, they lie to you, they edit resumes, they are rude, they waste your time, they don't listen, they have no attention to detail, and they berate you if you even consider not accepting an offer.

Many small companies use them anyways for some reason.

Recruiters who work for the company they are recruiting for are normally pretty good.