<p>I have several thoughts here. Also, I am a college counselor, as well as a parent, so you can take it for what it is worth...</p>
<p>First, was this call meant to be a call that was to inquire about her services or was it lined up ahead of time as a "consultation"? If this was your very first contact in which you were asking about services and so forth, I truly think it would be wrong of this counselor to charge you anything. I spend countless hours in emails or phone calls from many people inquiring about services, back and forth and for free. Once they line up services, then it is for a fee. But merely discussing counseling services or related questions or issues, is not for a fee. Many of these folks do not turn into clients. However, part of doing a service is being available for no fees regarding inquiries and good will of sorts. So, I am not clear if this was your initial contact with this person or if you both lined up an initial consultation which is like lining up a service, which is different. However, if it WAS the latter, where you lined up a consultation appointment, she should have made the fees known AHEAD of time. </p>
<p>Also, this woman says that IF you continue to do counseling with her, then this initial consultation will cost you $60. Does this mean if you do NOT sign on for counseling that the initial consultation was free? If so, this makes no sense to me. A consultation for fees should be a service whether or not you signed on for more or not. A consultation as an initial inquiry for no fees should be for no fee whether you signed on for more or not. </p>
<p>I also am unclear if you are signing on for a counseling "package" that includes certain things (in which case, she should apply that initial fee to the package fee) or if you are signing on for Hourly counseling. IF you are getting Hourly Counseling and also IF you wish to work with this person, YOU should really think it through because while you say she has a good reputation, which she very well might be great, your post implies that you didn't get that much out of it and she was charging you by the hour or minute and so it could be that such a service by the hour, MAY not be all that you are hoping it will be with this person. I would have some hesitation if that were the set up. A package with her may be better, given the nature of that some of the information wasn't new or helpful and she talked slowly and left too little time for your input. </p>
<p>I think if you don't sign up for services with her, and IF this was merely an initial inquiry and IF she did not tell the fees up front, you should not pay. However, if you choose to sign up and if it is for a package, you should ask to have that initial consultation fee applied to the package price. If you choose to sign up for some sort of hourly counseling, you can say that your initial inquiry was to ask about her services and based on your discussion, you wish to sign up so that initial inquiry was useful in getting to know her and her services but you were not informed there were any fees just to inquire and you don't wish to pay for something that was not made known as well as just to make initial contact. But if this call was a lined up "appointment", and if you opt to keep working with her, then, yes, her time for that appointment should be paid. </p>
<p>I just think you really ought to read over your own post because I infer a lot of hesitation on your end with this person....the making you pay a fee that was not told upfront, the requiring a fee to just make an inquiry (unless I read that wrong), the mode of the communication being all talk on her end and little on yours, the information she shared was not new or useful to you, and lastly, the way you say you HAVE to use her because every other counselor is booked up. I say, you do not HAVE to use her. You can either go it on your own with a lot of research, etc. or look into other services. For instance, there are counseling services that are not local and are done online. That is just one example. You don't have to "settle". I am not saying that this counselor is not good and she likely is very good if she has a good reputation, but it sounds like you are "settling" because that is the only person you have found to work with and you already have hesitations. Red flag goes up for me as to whether this is going to be what you are hoping it will be.</p>
<p>PS, just to be clear, I am NOT saying to NOT pay her because you found the information to not be new or that helpful because a fee should be paid if you lined up a service. The reasons I gave for not paying had nothing to do with how helpful it was or not but only if this was an initial INQUIRY as opposed to an actual counseling appointment where she was engaged to "counsel" you. The part where I mentioned how helpful or not she was, has more to do with your choice of whether to work with her, particularly under an hourly fee set up but a package may be a better option with her.</p>