I sent an enquiry with regards to getting a logo designed for my new surgical practice and business cards to http://www.auroradesign.com.au/. Jamie Russ, the owner, called me eagerly telling me how awesome he is and that he never usually requires any revisions as clients are almost always happy with his designs. He also said that he would include business card designs and letterhead designs. He put down services such as "99designs" even though I have since worked out that he runshttp://www.logodesigncrew.com.au/ which is a clone of that very service. After paying $990 up front (my mistake!) he made me wait for more than the promised two weeks without further communication or updates on his progress . I tried to call him on his mobile but he was unreachable.
Eventually he answered my email and told me that his computer hard drive had died and he would get things done by the end of the week; clearly now I needed to chase him up to get this information. This turned out to mean by the end of the FOLLOWING week. Clearly, I had misunderstood. Nearly 4 weeks after paying and sending in my "Creative Design Brief", Jamie sent me three designs that clearly took about 10 minutes to make (all together). They all basically consisted of my initials squashed together in three different ways and the name of my practice in a generic font. Despite the "creative brief" there was no creativity in these, as they did not in any way suggest that I was a surgeon or in the medical profession.
I showed the designs around and everyone laughed or asked "Are those it?" as clearly I had been ripped off. I told him I was disappointed. He said he would make something else for me. Three days later he told me that he needed more time as his mum had had a heart attack and was "not looking good". Didn't seem too convincing but I sent my best wishes and explained that if he couldn't fulfil his end of the deal then he should refund me. He gave no acknowledgement of this request.
A few days later, he sent another variation of the "initials put together" design. By that stage I had designed MY own logo and made my business cards as I needed them. I said that it was fine and to send me the Illustrator files (I at least wanted some sort of "product"). 25 (!) days later I emailed him again to ask where my files were. I followed up with information telling him that I was in the process of putting in a complaint against him through the WA Department of Commerce (he is in Perth, I'm in NSW). He then quickly sent me a single .eps file saying that he "thought" he had sent them. He never sent through the business card designs or letterheads.
I can show the "designs" that this charlatan sent through if you guys/gals want, but I guess the point is "don't pay up front" and "don't trust people that you can't meet in person". If you have $990 to waste, give Aurora Designs a call.