Yeah I know. I actually talked to one of the SiteSell Sales guys a few months ago when they launched this and he told me that the reason they don't focus so much on design is they really want people to understand that it's not about the design. If you want to make money, it's critical that you learn how to build a heavily trafficked site that reaches out to a specific audience. So many of the new customers are so focused on changing their design that they lose sight of what's really important in the beginning. Again, I think the coaching program is more for using the SBI! tools, not the design aspect.
I always tell the story that I used to have that simple 2-column design for 2 1/2 years and my site was making very good money even with that "outdated" design. I didn't change my design until my site was getting thousands of visits per day and making money.
But I can understand both sides. As a customer, if you're paying a certain amount of money you want your site to look the way you want. And with SBI! you can do what you want with your design, but there's a bit of a learning curve involved and it's different than the average host.
And as you said, you can always go to a site like
www.freecsstemplates.org and download a free design then upload it to SBI!. Of course you still have to take the time to follow the integration guidelines so the template works with SBI!'s technology. But the steps are laid out pretty well.