,
It would have been professionally accurate for him to tell me at that time that: 1. His company didn't supply any of the graphics; graphics other than financial graphs were my responsibility. But he didn't. It would have also been appropriate, I believe, for him to tell me that he didn't provide any type of consulting with figuring out the numbers–he just plugs in whatever he is given. But he didn't.
He required full payment before I ever saw a rough draft, and it was disappointing, to say the least, to discover I'd been misled through omission.
In addition, he led me to believe that his company had experience with my industry then wrote a marketing strategy that was clearly designed for a different industry. Perhaps, if he had dialogued with me at any point before requiring final payment, he would have written a marketing strategy that reflected the industry accurately.
I decided, at a certain point, that I would just have to do the work that he didn't do. I found appropriate images and did the necessary work in photo shop to make them look professional. I edited and rewrote the copy, and I figured out how to convert the Word document to a PDF because he didn't think it was his professional responsibility to give a completed product.
Do I have a business plan now? Yes. Customized by me. The $500 template would have taken me about as much work as the $2400 customized plan.