One thing I discipline myself always to maintain is a insistance that I always do the thinking with the head on my shoulders. That can be very difficult at times, you have no idea how frustrated I am right now with recent cancellations and other assorted BS leaving me without a release in a while and the region in general leaving me without a regular release, but you can get yourself in alot of trouble and/or have subpar experiances become the norm (as you alluded to in your recent experiances) if you are inclined to let the little head do the thinking.
I have said it before, I think the scammers must have a field day in places with limited selection versus places like LA,LV,NY,Fla,etc, alot of guys are starved for what they advertise (fake pics of girls with tight bodies and younger age)
For me getting scammed and being timid to TOFTT is less about lost money and more about one, just feeling really stupid for falling for it, and two getting into a situation where your trip home might include a stop at the hospital or something. I will be the first to admit, I have no balls to take risks in this hobby, I am a total pussy,lol. There are alot of good people in this hobby, providers and hobbyists, but there are also alot of scumbags that prey on the hobby. They know that they can do alot of things and not get in trouble since the prospects of contacting LE in case of being robbed or ripped off is a non-starter.
If I can be as sure as I can be, as sure as can be to where I feel comfortable, that I am not walking into a robbery attempt or a bait and switch then I can entertain a plunge with a unreviewed girl. If the worst that can happen is a subpar performance then I can deal with that.
Like I said though, experiance in the hobby will tip you off before you take the plunge alot of the time, reading reviews of guys who have been ripped off is an educational thing I recommend to all hobbyists, it has helped me to not have to write a nightmare review where I had a severely bad time.
If you show up and the girl looks nothing like the pics and she is not otherwise appealing then you should take your leave with no regrets, you were the one that was lied to. This is when you really have to make sure the big head does the talking.
I concur with you 100% on the ad thing, nothing more frustrating than not being able to even get in touch with the provider. I have a rule, if I try three times without success, three separate occasions then I will not try again, she is obviosuly too busy to be bothered with my money. I think many of these girls would be really well served to get bookers or someone to take their calls, they have to be losing tens of thousands a year because they can't be reached. I mean I understand they can't see everyone at the same time but its just not a god thing to be unreachable when your ad is online.
I know it is tough with the limited selection, but you are only frustrating yourself and having no fun by never getting an anwser, set a limit of contact attempts and stop trying after that limit is reached.
If a provider cancels on you without an explanation then just forget that they exist. Too many guys in this hobby insist on banging the door down to see a girl they really want to see, you should have some self respect and dignity and demand it. Most providers would not consider seeing a guy who cancelled on them (and I wouldn't blame them either) so why would you see a girl who cancelled on you. I wouldn't see a provider who cancelled on me even if she did call me to cancel, the only exception being if I feel the excuse is truly legitamite and not some BS story. The BS story is typical and guys are blown off all the time, and I can't blame the providers who do it, most hobbyists will call them up the next day to rebook.
You don't deserve respect unless you demand it. And it is hard I can tell you. There is a top notch provider, I mean top notch, she gets rave reviews on here all the time, and I have seen her too (didn't submit a review) and had a 10/10 time. I am not going to mention who it is as I don't want to damage her rep, if that's possible, she is a gem. She is from Cbus that is all I'll say. But she had a trip scheduled here a few months back that I responded to her email to me with a affirmative on her invitation for another appoimntment when she was in town. I was cancelled on and I don't feel like I was told the truth on why. My take was that she was making the trip to see a regular that probably booked her for multi hours which made it worth her trip and that gent cancelled. I can understand her cancelling the trip I suppose but I still was very disappointed and didn't feel like I was told the truth, which I would have appreciated, so I am going to,to my dismay, avoid contacting her again. I am sure under similar circumstances it would happen again so I will not put myself through the disappointment again.
Remember if your not having fun then what are you doing this for. If your going into a meeting expecting anything but a good time then why are you doing it. Some might do it for a rush of the unexpected, and that's cool. to each his own, they have more calls than me that's for sure, I just like having a certain level of comfort going into these appoimntments.