Matchmaker demands exorbitant price

To continue our discussion of a matchmaker’s fee… You wrote: “this has to be agreed upon before the match actually begins, that is, before they begin to meet”. As is well known, before the pair meets, there are already many conversations between the matchmakers and the parents. It seems that matchmaker’s work begins as soon as he starts getting involved in making the match. When the time comes for the first date, it’s already too late to tell the matchmaker that you are not interested in his services, and you prefer someone else. It seems that you have to say this at the time when you can still switch to a different matchmaker.  

Dear …!

Matchmaking consists of two parts: a. making the initial offer, b. managing the dates. It states in the books of halachic law that the fee for the first part is one third, and the fee for the second part is two thirds of the overall matchmaking fee. And thus, there are several possibilities.

1. If a matchmaker made an offer and did not specify that he charges a very high fee, and now you are already finished with the dates and the match has come to a successful conclusion – you only have to pay him a regular fee.
2. But if he let you know about the high fee from the beginning, you have to pay the fee that he charges. 
3. If he let you know about the fee after the offer had been made, and after the sides investigated each other, but before the dates started, then you have to pay him one third of his fee according to what matchmakers normally charge. If he doesn’t want to continue with the match, unless you pay him the high fee, you are allowed to use another matchmaker to manage the dates. If the match comes to a successful conclusion, then the second matchmaker get the remaining two thirds of the fee.