Complaint Review: Elance.com

I had a great idea for a spray that would resist sand. After an internet search I found Elance that connects freelancers and people who desire certain services. After creating an account, I wrote up a proposal and was contacted in a few days with a freelancer who was interested in the work. We worked with the amounts and deciding to proceed with the work. I funded the account to which elance ensure it was "safe" with a "consumer guarantee". I funded the account and released the first part which was 75 dollars (575 total) so the samples could be shipped to me. After about 30 days there was no shipment that arrived and I disputed the remaining amount so that it would not be auto released by elance. In the meantime I contacted their customer service and also contacted DHL who assured me there was no package in their system with my name or address on it. I decided not to go thru the arbritration process after reading further reviews on the arbritration that seemed to be biased (just read the reviews about it on here!) and also there was nothing to dispute as there was no shipment. I felt I shoudlnt have to pay another 300 bucks to get my money back. I contacted elance, I contacted the freelancer who by this time was barely responsive. By this time the money had auto released. So elance recieved their portion, the freelancer recieved their portion and I received nothing! I contacted my credit card company and just got word today that my claim was denied! What a terrible ordeal. This whole thing has made me sick to my stomach. All I wanted to do was start a business with some ideas! Thanks for a total ripoff elance! By the way it has been 3 months and still no package.