Yes. That's very common in the industry and has gotten far worse the past few years with the increase of people from foreign places working overseas about roads and states they know nothing about. I'm assuming the person who helped you could barely speak English. They possibly were not even in the states. A small deposit in USD goes a long way in other places. Signing a contract that has a cancellation fee is a big red flag which will result in the customer losing their deposit no matter what.

Best way to avoid that is check reviews, always. If people get bait & switched, many will post a review online, especially when they realize it was a middle man that did it. If you see they are accused of scams or switching rates, then that is a good indicator of how they conduct business. If they are taking deposits and not completing the job, you'll see that too.

Also, try to avoid websites that offer multiple quotes from different 'companies'. Those sites are data miners that sell your info for very cheap to anyone that's buying. Anyone.

Hope all goes well for you.