Dear collective wisdom, please tell me if you would pay upfront for this? and apologies that this is a fairly boring one - it's just rather a lot of money.
I've contacted a garden designer in my area about creating a planting plan for the garden where I live. (It's not even my own garden, I'm doing it for my landlord who's also a friend, so if money is lost it will be their money but my fault - thus, perhaps, the excess of caution!) The garden designer's business model is apparently that one purchases a 'plan' that includes an evaluation and a deliverable, costed based on the size of your garden, before they do any work at all, including coming by to see the garden and discuss your needs.
I've only paid upfront for garden work once, many years ago, and that person promptly disappeared without doing the work. The garden designer seems to think I'll be comfortable paying quite a lot, sight unseen. Granted, they do seem to be legit and who they say they are, if you believe LinkedIn, and they do seem to have 30 years of gardening experience etc (LinkedIn again), and they do give their business address on their website... The only red flags are that I can't find any reviews of their work - they have a portfolio on their website, but those images could be from anywhere - and the request to pay upfront.
So... Has anyone actually used a garden designer and is this how they all work? The designer in question also offers their entire service via video, meaning you'd never meet at all, so perhaps this is simply how business is done now and I'm just being paranoid??