Oooookay. Making Nice Here Breadmaker's Intent Was Right

Mr. Skoutcamp,

Your inquiry came somewhat late on Black Friday for an appointment THAT night.  To Breadmaker's point....such a request from an alias is not a tempting offer to respond.  I will suggest that if you were to attempt this inquiry from an alias in the future, you may want to include the line that you did in your last post (i.e. "I have references") as a part of the original post.  Then I may have been tempted to contact you via PM, but I can't PM an alias.  Doing so may have increased your responses tremendously.  Still and eve if there were a way to discreetly contact you, you didn't leave enough time for me or anyone else to contact you, learn your references, email or phone them, and they (the references) say yay or nay.  I'm just saying that your possible success rate would probably have been better.  A public (on TER) response from a provider would have also made it public that the responding provider may be desperate for an appointment, and therefore a target for haggling.  The latter may be a stretch, but I'm trying to give you a few thoughts that do in fact go through our minds (at least in my mind in any case).

Call it paranoia if you wish but:

From a provider's perspective you could have been LE hoping for a needy or 'desperate-for-cash' provider.  I have seen posts such as your's get several responses on the board simply because the person did not use an alias, and his "x" number of reviews were right there.  Who knows how many responding PMs that he received?

Allowing too little time for screen/verify is never good.  The latter is a known ploy by the wrong people wanting to make same-day appointments or with short notice.  I would have needed to checked with your references before committing.  Hobbyists sometimes neglect the reality that the reference-givers are not at our beckon call.  Some do not like to give references over the phone (raising hand) because we don't always know who we're talking to.  That would leave email.  That is after we've checked to see if your references are valid as one of us, and that her telephone number and/or website addresses matched e.g.:  her TER profile.  All of this on short-notice?!?  On Black Friday too!  Hell most of us were probably out avoiding getting pepper-sprayed at a Wal*Mart and would have not been available to give a reference.

While I personally don't agree with the use of an alias to bash or otherwise ridicule, Breadmaker was correct, and I hope that I've given you a few of the reasons why.  I don't know if he could have given you the same reasons that I have because he is not one of us who must deal with last minute requests.  You did also state in one of your rebuts that you wanted a reputable companion.  I'll step out on a limb and say that the reputable ladies whom I know personally would not have replied either.  Particularly in a public forum.

Just trying to assist...