No that has nothing to do with design and sounds more like scam. I suggest you read another active thread "I want a garden not a drawing". And, in case you are not sure, don't pay the money.

Thanks inkognito - I appreciate your input. I will take a look at the other thread that you suggested also. I thought I would send maybe $75.00 just for the hour he spent at my property listening to ME tell HIM what I wanted. I guess he should at least be paid for his time and maybe the toner he used to print out his letter in a font that even someone with a vision disability could read. Thanks again.

Pretend you are an editor or running a design contest and mail his submission back with a rejection letter, explaining in brief why it doesn't cut it. Then he can either try harder for your money or not. Meanwhile, you can go on to interview other candidates for your project.

DO NOT send any money. If there is no signed contract placing you under an obligation to pay for anything [not] provided so far you are just tipping for bad service. If for some reason you must do something for this person who has not provided you with what you asked for, then compose and send them an explanation of why you are not satisfied with what they have provided. This will provide them with an opportunity to do a better job, if not for you then maybe for somebody else later.

I hate to see a designer get ripped off. As far as I can see, the only designers who are getting ripped off are those that lose work to this clown. I agree with bboy. You had a verbal agreement which is a contract, but he did not live up to his end of the bargain by the sound of it. That would void the contract, I would think.

This is a question about trust and expectation. On that other thread TMK talks about 'breaking bread', the old hippy that he is, but failing that level of sharing a contract is required. A contract implies, and Andrew is right a verbal agreement is a contract, that for doing this you get paid this. Who brings the bread and who supplies the dough is what makes it go round.
Moodyblue has a sense of the sarcastic "maybe the toner he used to print out his letter in a font that even someone with a vision disability could read" so perhaps telling the guy you put in "a wine barrel waterfall last year." and " I told him I wanted to terrace the small hill it's on along with putting in a small patio big enough for 4 people to have a cool drink and enjoy the breeze off the lake across the street. I told him I wanted a half-moon patio" was a bit strong and culled his cojones, what do you think.
It is necessary for a designer (notice the lack of parenthesis) and a client to connect (break bread) and when this doesn't happen but you still want the job (done)you need to cover your ass.

Possibly check with the Better Business Bureau, and see what they have to say, and see if he has been reported b4.

In the interest of making this a learning opportunity for you both, I think you do need to go back and ask yourself what you wanted when you hired a designer. I'm following INK (again) and the word "expectation." It is probably unusual for any designer to be asked to "design" something that already has a chosen focal point installed and most of the rest of the site lines mentally sketched in, and it gets my goat too when someone comes to the forum with such a question - a design half-implemented, stuck with how best to frame or finish what was (in those cases) a bad design decision to start with. Or asks for a foundation plan for a house that doesn't need a foundation planting. If I don't like the plan, I certainly don't like fixing it.

But OK, so you pissed him off by the nature of your request, but I still think it is incumbent upon him to do the best he can. You wanted someone to bounce your ideas off, or to sketch them, and that's not hard - he failed to give you either meaningful feedback or a good sketch. The suggestion that you get plant ideas from a garden centre is beyond being reasonable. I'm thinking he wanted to piss you off back.

Bottom line, I think you hired the wrong person for this job; you didn't need a designer because you are doing your own design. You needed a consultation with a contractor, or a plant expert.

Reminds me of yesterday, when I needed a simple little bouquet of flowers for someone. I could have stopped at the corner store, but there is a very chi chi floral design shop in the area that I'd never checked out as I don't buy flowers often. So I thought this would be a chance to see what was in there, meet the proprieter, etc (because she sometimes sells some nice plants out front too). Unfortunately she was in the midst of a bridal consultation and when I interrupted that and then rejected an orchid stem for a simple bunch of Gerberas and other daisies, she could barely contain her disgust at having to deal with me. BUT she charged me fairly and I paid.

I'm not that familiar with rates in this business, but I do think $200 is a bit unreasonable when he didn't even provide you with a plant list. Really, he should have told you it wasn't his type of job. I know that in your shoes I'd apologize for wasting his time, and say thanks for the limited assistance he was able to provide. I would also send a cheque; I just don't know for how much. Maybe $100. You might even pay it all and consider it the price of the learning curve.

As a designer myself, I am somewhat appalled at this type of lack of professionalism. But it seems to be uncomfortably common. A lot of it may the result of pretty much anyone being able to call themselves a "designer" regardless of skills or experience. Did this yo-yo come with any kind of credentials? A portfolio of built/installed work?

If I were in your position, I'd call him and express your dissatisfaction with his product yet give him the opportunity to elaborate on the plan, indicating that he really didn't produce any sort of design over and above what you had already laid out. Barring any success with that approach, I'd let him know that the $200 fee (for what??) would be used at the nursery/garden center for purchase of the plants THEY suggest.

I had a similar experience several years ago with an interior designer who came highly recommended by a friend. I was looking for suggestions for ways to pull things together in my home; paint, fabrics, rugs, accessories, and suggestions for window treatments. For $200 I got a lined sheet from a yellow notepad with a few suggestions written in pencil. No paint chips, no fabric swatches, no color suggestions. I did follow her recommendation for window tinting, but there was nothing else of any substance. She had borrowed a book from me about craftsman interiors and it was like pulling teeth to get her to return it. I was pretty disgusted, but I did not clarify with her beforehand what I could expect from the initial consultation; I was going on the rave reviews from my friend. Clearly our expectations were very far apart.

Sounds like eating at restaurant somebody else tells you is great.

Or it may be like serving food at that restaurant where no one appreciates you enough to give a tip or the one where you cooked the pizza and the punters can't distinguish it from one that came in a box. karinl is kinda saying that if you dine out at MacDonalds and complain that the hambugger is over cooked you may not have too much clout but if you dine out at a restaurant that claims to offer the culinary equivelant of window tinting you get it and you pay for it.