Michael contacted me shortly after my review, and we discussed that my experience could have been due to an unfortunate series of misunderstandings. We agreed to hit reset, and continued to work together at the previously agreed rate ($1600 + 300 + 18 recording fee).
Since then, communication has been prompt, and the service delivered to date has been thorough. I'm not removing my previous review as was requested, but am leaving this update to acknowledge that the prior experience could have been an anomaly. I'll continue to update as we work through the rest of our estate paperwork.
Update : We more or less completed the process, and outside of the issue I experienced below (which appears to have been a misunderstanding on whether there was a confirmation to go ahead), our experience with Michael has been great. The work he performed was good AND he took the time to humour all our weird crazy questions - of which we had many! We never felt rushed at his office and we feel much more confident going with Michael vs some sort of DIY option online.
So, and if you want someone who in person is friendly and approachable, and whom you can ask a lot of questions for during the process, then I would definitely recommend working with Michael.