I was given Pat's name by a friend's friend. We set-up an appointment and I went to her home in El Cerrito (from San Francisco) to meet with her. She showed me her portfolio, which she described as "outdated", and we chatted for about an hour and a half. I brought a number of pictures to give her an idea of the look I was going for, but she never really seemed to get it. We agreed that she would continue to hold my date, and that we would talk again after she had sent me a contract to look over. A week and a half later I emailed her to check in on the contract. I was resigned to using her because of the referral. She emailed me back saying that she had "just" booked someone else for my date and was sorry but would not be able to help me. I reminded her that she was holding my date and still hadn't sent me a contract. This didn't seem to mean much to her.

I found her response to be very bizarre, unprofessional and inconsiderate. It took a total of four hours for me to get to and from her home and view a portfolio that was "years" out of date, just to be told that she decided to work with someone else.

Unless it's love at first sight, I wouldn't suggest relying on this vendor.