Yes, to clarify, I am quite confident in that it is not an intentional scam, ie that she did not set out with the intent of not honouring the session.

What most likely happened was that something came up, or she made plans to be not in town, she had to cancel, I would have left town by the time she was back and she couldn't be bothered to refund me my deposit.

Whether she does it regularly or it was just me I don't know, but I've asked for the refund thrice and didn't get it. And I gave up after three tries because it didn't seem likely anymore.