This was most likely a scam.

I have worked with them in the past and it was a successful deal, they have been existing for quite a while now, I don’t think they would be scamming people now, ask yourself why they would scam people now after 29years of being in the business??

I have seen this before - it is often a scam.

Years ago I was scammed into hiring a "COACH" for free. 

Well.. what can I do other than keep going on the investing journey and try not to get scammed going forward.

Many times they are scams or just give you the bare info for a ton of dollars.Use bigger pockets to your advantage, there is a ton of free information on here that can really get you started on the right track.

There appears to be a lot of scams out there.

I also don’t like to feel scammed, especially by someone/something that has slowly gained my trust over the last couple of months.  

In Illinois they do,  and my attorney advised me I could ask for LOCAL paperwork as the Internet stuff is just a scam to make money.

This is not bad or a scam, it's just how they do things.