I am completely new to this and I have a question about meeting with providers. It seems to me that an easy way to make sure you were getting the girl in the picture would be to do a brief meet-n-greet over webcam. I don't mean them putting on a show but just a video call to answer general questions and put both parties more at ease. But that doesn't seem to be a customary thing to do. Is there some reason I'm overlooking? Will ladies get offended if you ask them to briefly chat over Skype, iChat, etc?

Ir makes sense in a perfect world.  But some of these weirdo guys might just want to see them and not book an appt.  a lot of other variables might also happen.  So it's not a good idea

It's not a way to screen or clear you.
You have to have references:

I guess I should clarify -- I don't mean doing it to replace the screening and reference process, because after all it's just a visual and vibe thing, but it seems better than a phone call for both parties and could be a way to augment the screening and reference process. It would be a big help to hobbyist ("what you see is what you get"), but it'd probably be worthwhile for the provider to see the person she's talking to during the screening. Ultimately though, it all depends on references you're right. But since taste can be such a particular thing (one person's 8 is another person's 5 for example) it could just be another way to help out.

Not to speak for the ladies (they may say otherwise), but I suspect the webcam meet-and-greet notion would end up being a huge time-waster for them. Flaky hobbyists and pretenders already waste their time with unproductive emails, texts and phone calls. Webcam chats would seem likely to invite guys who just want to ogle a provider, with no real intent to meet.

just read the reviews and talk with the other reviewers.
If she consistently gets high appearance ratings, have no fear.
Pics are usually a good representation.

NEVER EVER do such a thing for so many discretionary reasons.

Thanks for that response. I appreciate it. I was just curious, that's all. I mean from the hobbyist side it seemed like a simple solution to time-wasters. Just have a provider turn a webcam on for 30 secs and say hello and if if looked like the person you thought, then proceed to whatever the next level was, that's all. And like you said, it would be a 2-way street, she may see the hobbyist and decide that it is not even worth the time to check references etc. I guess I say all this because I am a guy and therefore very visual. I am a "look before you leap" type individual.  

I think it would be crazy hot to have a webcam show with a beautiful woman then hop in the car, drive over and actually do the deed with her in real life....are you kidding me? ..they make movies about that stuff..OK more like low budget porn flicks, but hell..I'm all over it!