As far as I know, basic embroidery is still free when you purchase a hat, at least it was last I bought a hat and when some one in this thread purchased a hat. Sometimes if you purchase a hat and try to come back and want your name on it, but do not have a receipt they will charge you $3.
This might be because of Ebay hats and the wherehouses, it might be another reason, I just know it happened to my friend and have seen it happen before ( I also had a CM not charge my sister who lost her receipt so you don't always get charged) . If when I take the Baby hat I bought at a wherehouse sale (it's an official Disney ears hat), I will expect to pay the $3 because I didn't buy it from Disney, since I want the classic Disney design and will pay for the service.
Otherwise, yes with any custom design you will pay more, with the new machines and the time it can take to input the information and the back up it can cause in a busy shop on a busy day, no wonder they charge more. I did not see any version of hat that came with a free upgrade to the writing, last I looked.
Overall I think it is still a rumor, hopefully some one can triple check for us.