Where I live, free consults (or free telephone consults at the VERY least, but usually in person) are pretty standard practice. When I was searching for current T, I did four consults and they were all free. I did another free consult two days ago and have another free consult plus two free telephone consults booked for next week. (If it sounds like I'm taking advantage of the system, I'm not - I'm just looking for something specific, and I don't want to waste their time or my money on a T who doesn't have experience with attachment issues or suicidal ideation or the other issues I have.)

It's possible that because the other consults were free and she didn't mention payment to me during the session or before it other than a very general discussion of her fees that I just assumed it was free, but either way it's a lack of clarity/communication, and I think it's her responsibility to be clear about stuff like that...