There is nothing wrong about paying up front for a service you ask for. It just reflect the truth and reality that too many people , despite their knowing , abuse the system plain and simple. For a business to be viable, the operator need to protect his/her operation and that means paying up front.

Truth is too many people take for granted service and commodity for free. There is no such thing as a free service. somebody got to pay for it anyway ...

I simply fail to see any real issue here. If one is diligently asking for a service, not intenting to cheat or abuse the system.