My understanding was that beef with indulgences was that people would buy them on behalf of OTHERS, like a mother who lost her son buying indulgences FOR HIM! This seems like exploitation of love, whereas buying indulgences for oneself merely seems like an exploitation of fear.
The merits of the saints can help us attain salvation, and so if the piety and charity of one can help oneself reduce temporal suffering, it is not unreasonable to suggest that such pious or charitable actions can help others accomplish the same - though I'm not as familiar with that particular side of this issue.
If a saint vouches for us, that's his decision, and that decision isn't motivated by exploitation of love, as is the case with the mother and son.
The cynical view will be exploitation of love in one case, exploitation of fear in the other, as you have already pointed out. But as I've pointed out before, the possibility of a cynical view does not negate the merit of the charitable view.
It is wrong to drink alcohol because it might interfere with our free will.
It is right to take money from a poor mourning mother, because she of course understands all the theological intricacies about purgatory and indulgences, and the Catholic Church can do no wrong.
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