UPDATE:
the following command works for unix to unix (tested on Solaris10)
(this is a simple way to verify files)
ssh user@hostname test -e file_to_check ; echo $? /tmp/exitstatus
that will give you a 1 or 0 in relation to the file being there or not
Anyways, that does not work with my unix > windows ordeal... I always get 0 exit status
I've tried Tony's other solution regarding ls and using grep for the exit status and that is working for me
If there are any other possible ways I would love to hear it